Jordan denies reports of land bridge to transport goods to Israel

By Laith Junaidi

AMMAN, Jordan (AA) – Jordan on Sunday denied reports about a land bridge to transport goods to Israel amid a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip.

“Jordan will not remain silent to these fabrications,” Jordanian Prime Minister Bisher Al-Khasawneh said in a speech during an event in the capital Amman.

He termed as “disgraceful” any attempt to tarnish Jordan’s position on the Israeli war on Gaza.

“There is neither a land bridge nor a maritime one from Jordan, and the transportation arrangements to and from Jordan have remained unchanged for over 25 years,” he added.

In December, Jordan dismissed reports about transporting goods to Israel via a land bridge as “allegations.”

Jordan has three border crossings with Israel; the King Hussein/Allenby Bridge, 57km away from Amman, the Sheikh Hussein crossing between Irbid city and the Israeli town Beit She’an and the Wadi Araba/Yitzhak Rabi crossing, close to the Red Sea between Aqaba and Eilat.

Israel has launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 Hamas attack, killing more than 29,690 people and causing mass destruction and shortages of necessities, while nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed.

The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, 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 Rania Abu Shamala