Jordan's King Abdullah II said Sunday that his kingdom was involved in intensive diplomacy to halt what he characterized as Israeli military escalation in the worst Israeli-Palestinian violence in years.
Jordanian government officials have told Reuters the kingdom is leading a diplomatic campaign with its European and US allies to put pressure on Israel to end its air and artillery barrage on Gaza since fighting erupted last Monday.
The Israeli military says that Hamas and other armed factions have fired more than 2,800 rockets from Gaza over the past week.
Earlier on Sunday, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said Israel's actions were pushing the region towards a wider conflict.
"Israel carries as the existing occupation force responsibility for the dangerous situation in occupied Palestinian land and what it is causing in violence, killings, destruction and suffering," Safadi said.
Thousands of Jordanians, most of them of Palestinian origin, took to the streets of the capital Amman on Sunday, calling on the kingdom to scrap its peace deal with Israel.
