AMMAN: King Abdullah II of Jordan has stressed the need to unify international efforts to enhance humanitarian responses to the deteriorating conditions in the Gaza Strip, pledging that Jordan will continue to provide humanitarian, relief, and medical assistance to the people in Gaza, both by land and air.
In a letter to Cheikh Niang, chairman of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, to mark the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, which falls on November 29, the Jordanian king renewed the call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, according to a statement released on Tuesday by the Royal Hashemite Court.
The Jordanian king reaffirmed his country's firm rejection of attempts to liquidate the Palestinian cause and any proposal that would lead to the displacement of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza, Xinhua news agency reported.
In the letter, the king urged the international community to launch an effective effort to restore stability, which can only be achieved not by killing innocent civilians, terrorising them, and displacing them, but by finding a political horizon that leads to the Palestinian people obtaining all their legitimate and inalienable rights.
He stressed that the Israeli aggression in Gaza for over a year has resulted in the death of more than 43, 000 Palestinians, over 100, 000 injuries, and the displacement of nearly 1.9 million people. It has caused unprecedented destruction in the Palestinian enclave, with about 87 per cent of buildings destroyed, and infrastructure, schools, hospitals, places of worship, and vital buildings almost completely devastated.
The king also highlighted the Israeli measures targeting humanitarian aid workers, including the bombing of the headquarters of international organisations that shelter thousands of displaced people, especially those of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). He stressed that UNRWA plays an essential role that cannot be replaced or substituted, requiring urgent action to provide all forms of support to it.
Turning to the West Bank and Jerusalem, the king warned of the dangerous systematic attacks by extremist settlers against Palestinians, as well as the repeated assaults on Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, which occur under the watch and silence of the right-wing Israeli government.