Jordan King Reiterates Need To Preserve Status Quo in Jerusalem

Jordanian King Abdullah II held talks on Thursday with Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid at Al Husseiniya Palace (Petra)
Jordanian King Abdullah II held talks on Thursday with Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid at Al Husseiniya Palace (Petra)
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Jordan King Reiterates Need To Preserve Status Quo in Jerusalem

Jordanian King Abdullah II held talks on Thursday with Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid at Al Husseiniya Palace (Petra)
Jordanian King Abdullah II held talks on Thursday with Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid at Al Husseiniya Palace (Petra)

Jordanian King Abdullah II on Thursday told Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid that Israel's "unilateral steps" in the holy city from accelerated Jewish settlement building to its attempts to change the legal status quo of the city undermined a two-state solution.

King Abdullah reaffirmed the need to step up efforts to achieve just and comprehensive peace based on the two-state solution that guarantees the establishment of an independent, sovereign, and a viable Palestinian state, on the 4 June 1967 lines, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

“The King reiterated the need to preserve the historical and legal status quo in Jerusalem, maintain calm, and stop unilateral action that undermines the two-state solution,” a royal palace statement said.

King Abdullah’s position came during a meeting with Lapid at Al Husseiniya Palace in Amman, where the two sides tackled measures to reactivate the peace process.

The King stressed that achieving a just peace based on the two-state solution is the key to bolstering regional cooperation.

Earlier on Thursday, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi also sat down with the visiting Israeli Minister.

Talks between the two sides focused on efforts to return to serious and effective negotiations to achieve peace based on the two-state solution.

Safadi said the two-state solution is the only means of achieving a just and lasting peace. Several issues of bilateral concern were also discussed during the talks.

Last Wednesday, Safadi had warned that prospects for achieving Middle East peace are "absent," and that Israeli measures undermining the two-state solution are continuing.

“Israeli settlements are a violation of international law, and practices to undermine peace should stop, as well as confiscating lands and displacing Palestinians from their homes, in Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, and in Silwan area,” the Minister said.

Addressing the 157th regular session of the Arab League at the Ministerial level in Cairo, Safadi said Jerusalem is the key to peace, and Arab countries should work together, on a permanent and systematic basis, to protect its Arab, Islamic and Christian identity, and preserve its historic and legal status quo and its sanctities.



52 Palestinians Including Children Killed in Israeli Airstrikes in Gaza

Palestinians inspect the destruction at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip on July 11, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Palestinians inspect the destruction at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip on July 11, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
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52 Palestinians Including Children Killed in Israeli Airstrikes in Gaza

Palestinians inspect the destruction at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip on July 11, 2025. (Photo by AFP)
Palestinians inspect the destruction at a makeshift displacement camp following a reported incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza strip on July 11, 2025. (Photo by AFP)

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 28 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including four children, hospital officials said Saturday. Also, 24 others were fatally shot on their way to aid distribution sites.

The children and two women were among at least 13 people who were killed in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, after Israeli airstrikes pounded the area starting late Friday, officials in Al-Aqsa Martyr's Hospital said. Another four people were killed in strikes near a fuel station, and 15 others died in Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, according to Nasser Hospital.

The Israeli military said in a statement that over the past 48 hours, troops struck approximately 250 targets in the Gaza Strip, including militants, booby-trapped structures, weapons storage facilities, anti-tank missile launch posts, sniper posts, tunnels and additional Hamas infrastructure sites. The military did not immediately respond to The Associated Press' request for comment on the civilian deaths.

The Hamas-led group killed some 1,200 people in their Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and abducted 251. They still hold 50 hostages, less than half of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.

Israel’s offensive has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, which is under Gaza’s Hamas-run government, doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count. The UN and other international organizations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.

US President Donald Trump has said that he is closing in on another ceasefire agreement that would see more hostages released and potentially wind down the war. But after two days of talks this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu there were no signs of a breakthrough.