Jordan demands ‘clear’ international stance to stop Israeli ground attack in Rafah

By Laith Junaidi

AMMAN, Jordan (AA) - Jordan called on Monday for a “clear” international stance to prevent any Israeli ground attack in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

“It is necessary to have a clear international stance to prevent any Israeli military operation in Rafah," Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said during a meeting with his Spanish counterpart Stephane Sejourne on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Saudi Arabia.

He warned that a ground attack in Rafah “will result in a new massacre."

According to a Foreign Ministry statement, the two ministers discussed the “explosive” situation in the occupied West Bank.

Despite growing international opposition, Israel has announced plans to launch a ground attack in Rafah, where more than 1.4 million Palestinians have taken refuge from Israel’s deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip.

Israel has waged a brutal offensive on the Palestinian enclave since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.

Nearly 34,500 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 77,600 others injured amid mass destruction and severe shortages of necessities.

More than six months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul