King Abdullah II Reassures Abbas on Palestinian Cause

Jordanian King Abdullah II receives Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday in Amman (AFP)
Jordanian King Abdullah II receives Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday in Amman (AFP)
TT
20

King Abdullah II Reassures Abbas on Palestinian Cause

Jordanian King Abdullah II receives Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday in Amman (AFP)
Jordanian King Abdullah II receives Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday in Amman (AFP)

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas discussed on Sunday with Jordanian King Abdullah II in Amman the Palestinian situation.

The meeting came as US President Joe Biden prepares to visit the region on July 13 and while Israel prepares for its upcoming elections.

Palestinian sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the meeting carried a Jordanian affirmation that any political developments in the region would not be at the expense of the Palestinians.

The sources expressed apprehension about the Arab-Israeli rapprochement that ended with an air alliance and ideas about a Middle Eastern NATO.

During his meeting with Abbas, the Jordanian King reaffirmed Jordan’s unwavering position towards the Palestinian cause and its support for the Palestinians in fulfilling their just and legitimate rights.

Abdullah assured that Jordan will always stands with the Palestinian people, and that nothing is more important to the Kingdom than the Palestinian cause.

The two officials had discussed at Al Husseiniya Palace in the Jordanian capital the latest political developments, bilateral relations, and issues of mutual concern, a Palestinian statement said.

“Wherever Jordan is present, the Palestinian cause will always be present,” Abbas said, as he reviewed the difficult situation in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

The two sides agreed that the only way to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is through the two-state solution, which guarantees the establishment of an independent, sovereign, and viable Palestinian state on the 4 June 1967 lines, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Abdullah II and Abbas also said that the next step required is to cease unilateral measures to open the way to resuming negotiations in the future.

Jordan is in constant communication with Washington, and is working to have the Palestinian cause at the top of Biden’s agenda during his visit to the region next month, Abdullah II said.

The king will attend a Summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council plus Egypt, Iraq, and Jordan with the US President in Jeddah.

He said Jordan will fully support the rights of the Palestinian people and their cause during the Summit.

Abdullah II reiterated that no progress can be made on regional economic cooperation without making progress in efforts to resolve the Palestinian cause.

Palestinian sources said that during his meeting with the US President next month, Abbas plans to ask for US pressure on Israel to make it stop unilateral actions, push the peace process forward, reopen the US consulate in Jerusalem, reopen the PLO office in Washington, and remove the organization from the terrorism list.

He will also inform Biden that the current situation cannot be tolerated in the absence of a political horizon and international protection for the Palestinian people, warning that he will take actions if Washington remains silent.

Jordan’s King earlier said he would support the creation of a Middle East alliance similar to NATO.

He told CNBC that there is a growing sense in the region that nations facing similar threats need to work together.



UN Reports 798 Deaths Near Gaza Aid Hubs in Six Weeks

Smoke rises from Gaza after an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo
Smoke rises from Gaza after an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo
TT
20

UN Reports 798 Deaths Near Gaza Aid Hubs in Six Weeks

Smoke rises from Gaza after an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo
Smoke rises from Gaza after an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israel-Gaza border, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo

The UN rights office said on Friday it had recorded at least 798 killings within the past six weeks at aid points in Gaza run by the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and near convoys run by other relief groups.

The GHF uses private US security and logistics companies to get supplies into Gaza, largely bypassing a UN-led system that Israel alleges has let Hamas-led militants loot aid shipments intended for civilians. Hamas denies the allegation.

After the deaths of hundreds of Palestinian civilians trying to reach the GHF's aid hubs in zones where Israeli forces operate, the United Nations has called its aid model "inherently unsafe" and a violation of humanitarian impartiality standards, Reuters reported.

"(From May 27) up until the seventh of July, we've recorded 798 killings, including 615 in the vicinity of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation sites, and 183 presumably on the route of aid convoys," UN rights office (OHCHR) spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani told a media briefing in Geneva.

The GHF, which began distributing food packages in Gaza at the end of May after Israel lifted an 11-week-old aid blockade, told Reuters the UN figures were "false and misleading". It has repeatedly denied that deadly incidents have occurred at its sites.

"The fact is the most deadly attacks on aid sites have been linked to UN convoys," a GHF spokesperson said.

The Israeli army said it was reviewing recent mass casualties and that it had sought to minimize friction between Palestinians and the Israel army by installing fences and signs and opening additional routes.

GUNSHOT WOUNDS

The OHCHR said it based its figures on a range of sources such as information from hospitals in Gaza, cemeteries, families, Palestinian health authorities, NGOs and its partners on the ground.

Most of the injuries to Palestinians in the vicinity of aid distribution hubs recorded by the OHCHR since May 27 were gunshot wounds, Shamdasani said.

"We've raised concerns about atrocity crimes having been committed and the risk of further atrocity crimes being committed where people are lining up for essential supplies such as food," she said.

Following the GHF assertion that the OHCHR figures are false and misleading, Shamdasani said: It is not helpful to issue blanket dismissals of our concerns - what is needed is investigations into why people are being killed while trying to access aid."

Israel has repeatedly said its forces operate near the relief aid sites to prevent supplies falling into the hands of militants it has been fighting in the Gaza war triggered by the Hamas-led cross-border attack on October 7, 2023.

"Following incidents in which harm to civilians who arrived at distribution facilities was reported thorough examinations were conducted in the Southern Command," an Israeli army spokesperson said in a statement, adding that such incidents were under review by the army.

The GHF said on Friday it had delivered more than 70 million meals to hungry Gaza Palestinians in five weeks, and that other humanitarian groups had "nearly all of their aid looted" by Hamas or criminal gangs.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has previously cited instances of violent pillaging of aid, and the UN World Food Program said last week that most trucks carrying food assistance into Gaza had been intercepted by "hungry civilian communities".

There is an acute shortage of food and other basic supplies 21 months into Israel's military campaign in Gaza, during which much of the enclave has been reduced to rubble and most of its 2.3 million inhabitants displaced.