Leaders of Jordan, Egypt, France write joint opinion piece calling for cease-fire in Gaza

By Laith Al-Jnaidi

AMMAN, Jordan (AA) - The leaders of Jordan, Egypt and France stressed the need for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza in an opinion piece published Monday.

The op-ed was published in Jordan’s Al Rai, Egypt’s Al Ahram, France’s Le Monde and the US-based The Washington Post newspapers, in which the leaders said "the two-state solution is the only credible path to guaranteeing peace and security for all."

King Abdullah II, Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and Emmanuel Macron called for the immediate and unconditional implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2728, warning against the dangerous consequences of an Israeli offensive on the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

In the opinion piece, the "leaders also called on all actors to refrain from any escalatory action or unilateral measures, stressing the importance of respecting the historical and legal status quo at Jerusalem’s Muslim and Christian holy sites and the role of the Jordanian Waqf under the Hashemite custodianship."

Earlier on Monday, following extensive meetings, delegations from Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas left Cairo after being engaged in indirect talks through Egyptian and Qatari mediators.

Tel Aviv believes that 134 Israelis are being held in Gaza, while Israel is holding around 9,100 Palestinians in its jails.

Indirect talks between Israel and Hamas are taking place in both Cairo and Doha aimed at reaching a deal that includes a prisoner swap under which the Israeli captives would be released in exchange for the freeing of Palestinians from Israeli jails.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Palestinian territories since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas which killed nearly 1,200 people.

Over 33,200 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 76,000 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’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.

On March 25, the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in Gaza during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. While Hamas welcomed the resolution, Israel rejected the cease-fire call and vowed to continue its war on the Palestinian enclave.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which in January issued an interim ruling that ordered it to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar