Jordan to host 3-way Arab summit to push for Gaza cease-fire

By Laith Junaidi

AMMAN, Jordan (AA) - The leaders of Jordan, Egypt, and Palestine will hold summit talks in the Jordanian port city of Aqaba on Wednesday to discuss the situation in the Gaza Strip.

A statement by Jordan’s Royal Court said King Abdullah II will meet with Egypt’s Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas “to discuss the dangerous developments in Gaza and the situation in the West Bank.”

The summit comes as part of efforts "to coordinate Arab positions to push for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and ensure the uninterrupted delivery of humanitarian aid," the statement said.

Wednesday’s summit comes amid a regional tour by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to seek to prevent an expansion of the conflict in the region.

Israel has pounded the Palestinian enclave since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7, killing at least 23,210 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 59,167 others, according to local health authorities.

Around 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas offensive.

About 85% of Gazans have been displaced, while all of them are food insecure, according to the UN. Hundreds of thousands of people are living without shelter, and ⁠less than half of aid trucks are entering the territory than before the start of the conflict.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Ankara