Jordan on Alert to Counter Israeli Attacks on Al-Aqsa

A protest in Haifa in support for Al-Aqsa Mosque (Wafa)
A protest in Haifa in support for Al-Aqsa Mosque (Wafa)
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Jordan on Alert to Counter Israeli Attacks on Al-Aqsa

A protest in Haifa in support for Al-Aqsa Mosque (Wafa)
A protest in Haifa in support for Al-Aqsa Mosque (Wafa)

Jordan’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Israeli Chargé d’Affaires on Monday to convey a message in protest of all Israeli provocative violations in the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and to assert the need to respect worshipers’ right to practice their religious rites freely and without restrictions.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Haitham Abul Ful said the Chargé d'Affaires was handed a letter of protest to his government, including a demand to immediately cease Israeli violations and attempts to change the historical and legal status of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and to impose a temporal and spatial division of the holy compound, Petra News Agency reported.

The spokesman condemned the attacks on the mosque as a serious escalation and a violation of international law.

Meanwhile, 87 Jordanian deputies submitted on Monday a parliamentary memorandum demanding the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador from Amman, after the series of attacks carried out by the Israeli forces inside the Holy Mosque and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

In response, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi announced that the government would convey a written warning to the Israeli embassy in Amman, to demand an immediate halt of the violations at the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Jordan’s King Abdullah II, who remained on a therapeutic trip outside the country following an urgent surgical intervention, held telephone conversations with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Deputy Supreme Commander of Armed Forces in the United Arab Emirates, Prince of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and President of the European Council, Charles Michel, in order to mobilize international efforts to stop all provocative actions against the historical and legal status on the holy sites.

For his part, Jordanian Prime Minister Bisher Al Khasawneh said that Israel “bears full responsibility for the consequences of the escalation, which undermines all efforts to maintain comprehensive calm.”



Israeli Airstrikes on Gaza Kill at Least 20 People

Smoke rises as people stand in a tent camp for displaced people, after an Israeli attack amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, December 22, 2024. REUTERS/Feras Nader  BEST QUALITY AVAILABLE
Smoke rises as people stand in a tent camp for displaced people, after an Israeli attack amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, December 22, 2024. REUTERS/Feras Nader BEST QUALITY AVAILABLE
TT

Israeli Airstrikes on Gaza Kill at Least 20 People

Smoke rises as people stand in a tent camp for displaced people, after an Israeli attack amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, December 22, 2024. REUTERS/Feras Nader  BEST QUALITY AVAILABLE
Smoke rises as people stand in a tent camp for displaced people, after an Israeli attack amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, December 22, 2024. REUTERS/Feras Nader BEST QUALITY AVAILABLE

Palestinian medics say Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip have killed at least 20 people.
One of the strikes overnight and into Monday hit a tent camp in the Muwasi area, an Israel-declared humanitarian zone, killing eight people, including two children.
That’s according to the Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, which received the bodies.
Hospital records show another six killed in a strike on people securing an aid convoy and another two killed in a strike on a car in Muwasi. One person was killed in a separate strike in the area,The Associated Press reported.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah said three bodies arrived after an airstrike on a school-turned-shelter in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp.
The Israeli military says it only strikes militants, accusing them of hiding among civilians. It said late Sunday that it had targeted a Hamas fighter in the humanitarian zone.
The war began when a Hamas-led group attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 hostage. Around 100 captives are still inside Gaza, at least a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel’s air and ground offensive has killed over 45,200 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry says women and children make up more than half the dead but does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its tally. The military says it has killed over 17,000 of Hamas, without providing evidence.