Jordanian King: We Will Continue to Provide Land and Air Assistance for Gaza

Jordanian Armed Forces members air drop aid parcels to several areas in northern Gaza, in this undated handout picture released on March 1, 2024. Jordanian Armed Forces/Handout via REUTERS
Jordanian Armed Forces members air drop aid parcels to several areas in northern Gaza, in this undated handout picture released on March 1, 2024. Jordanian Armed Forces/Handout via REUTERS
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Jordanian King: We Will Continue to Provide Land and Air Assistance for Gaza

Jordanian Armed Forces members air drop aid parcels to several areas in northern Gaza, in this undated handout picture released on March 1, 2024. Jordanian Armed Forces/Handout via REUTERS
Jordanian Armed Forces members air drop aid parcels to several areas in northern Gaza, in this undated handout picture released on March 1, 2024. Jordanian Armed Forces/Handout via REUTERS

Jordan’s King Abdullah stressed the need for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, raising concerns over a prolonged war and escalation in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
King Abdullah rejected all attempts aiming at dividing Gaza and the West Bank, and displacing the Palestinians, the Jordanian Royal Court said in a statement on Monday.
King Abdullah also stressed the need to continue providing relief and humanitarian aid to the war-torn Strip.
He affirmed Jordan’s continued protection of Islamic and Christian sanctities as part of Jordan's administration and custodianship of Jerusalem's Muslim holy sites.
Jordanian sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the King will continue to “hold meetings with Palestinian political factions”.
Other official sources told the newspaper that some foreign and local accounts on social media, including Facebook and X platforms, are posting inciting content provoking distrust in the official Jordanian stance.
The “organized campaigns” come as part of schemes aiming to undermine Jordan’s relief and humanitarian air drop efforts to the war-torn enclave, they said.
The sources added: “These campaigns come in parallel with street marches carried out every Friday demanding a halt to trade with the occupation entity”. However, Jordanian ministers assured that trade agreements with Israel are linked to Jordanian traders and not the government, according to the sources.



Gaza: Polio Vaccine Campaign Kicks off a day Before Expected Pause in Fighting

A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child at a hospital in Khan Younis, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child at a hospital in Khan Younis, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
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Gaza: Polio Vaccine Campaign Kicks off a day Before Expected Pause in Fighting

A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child at a hospital in Khan Younis, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A health worker administers a polio vaccine to a child at a hospital in Khan Younis, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A campaign to inoculate children in Gaza against polio and prevent the spread of the virus began on Saturday, Gaza's Health Ministry said, as Palestinians in both the Hamas-governed enclave and the occupied West Bank reeled from Israel's ongoing military offensives.

Children in Gaza began receiving vaccines, the health ministry told a news conference, a day before the large-scale vaccine rollout and planned pause in fighting agreed to by Israel and the UN World Health Organization. The WHO confirmed the larger campaign would begin Sunday.

“There must be a ceasefire so that the teams can reach everyone targeted by this campaign,” said Dr. Yousef Abu Al-Rish, deputy health minister, describing scenes of sewage running through crowded tent camps in Gaza.

Associated Press journalists saw about 10 infants receiving vaccine doses at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis.

Israel is expected to pause some operations in Gaza on Sunday to allow health workers to administer vaccines to some 650,000 Palestinian children. Officials said the pause would last at least nine hours and is unrelated to ongoing cease-fire negotiations.

“We will vaccinate up to 10-year-olds and God willing we will be fine,” said Dr. Bassam Abu Ahmed, general coordinator of public health programs at Al-Quds University.

The vaccination campaign comes after the first polio case in 25 years in Gaza was discovered this month. Doctors concluded a 10-month-old had been partially paralyzed by a mutated strain of the virus after not being vaccinated due to fighting.

Healthcare workers in Gaza have been warning of the potential for a polio outbreak for months. The humanitarian crisis has deepened during the war that broke out after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were militants.

Hours earlier, the Health Ministry said hospitals received 89 dead on Saturday, including 26 who died in an overnight Israeli bombardment, and 205 wounded — one of the highest daily tallies in months.