By Laith Al Junaidi
AMMAN, Jordan (AA) - Jordan called on the international community Thursday to act without delay to stop Israel from committing more war crimes in the Gaza Strip and to lift its “inhumane blockade” on the enclave.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi made the remarks during a phone call with European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, according to a statement by the Jordanian Foreign Ministry.
The statement said that Safadi urged the international community “to act immediately to halt the war crimes committed by Israel against the Palestinian people and to lift its inhumane blockade on Gaza.”
He stressed that these actions are necessary “to protect the Palestinian people from massacres and starvation and to uphold international law and humanitarian values that Israel continues to violate with impunity.”
Safadi noted that the international response to these crimes has been “insufficient to curb the extremism of the Israeli government and stop the massacres it commits.”
The Jordanian minister urged the EU to take “punitive measures” against Israel to pressure it into respecting international law and its agreements with the bloc and “to immediately cease its aggression in Gaza.”
He pointed out that all these illegal actions violate international humanitarian law and EU laws and values, necessitating a comprehensive European response to halt them.
The two diplomats also discussed efforts to reach a permanent cease-fire in Gaza and emphasized the need for all parties to agree on US President Joe Biden's initiative in this regard.
They also expressed their support for the efforts of Egypt, Qatar and the US to broker a prisoner exchange deal.
Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas.
The Palestinian death toll from relentless Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since last October has reached 37,431, according to the Health Ministry in the besieged enclave.
At least 85,653 people have also been injured in the onslaught, the ministry added.
Over eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in its latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
*Writing by Mohammad Sio