Abbas joins leaders of Jordan and Egypt for talks in Aqaba
King Abdullah II of Jordan discussed the Israel-Gaza war with the leaders of Egypt and the Palestinian Authority in the Jordanian city of Aqaba yesterday.
Official media said the king met Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrapped up a mission in the region after urging Israel to limit civilian casualties in Gaza.
Mr Abbas hosted Mr Blinken in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank then joined Mr El Sisi in Jordan, where they were received by King Abdullah at the airport in the port city.
The leaders discussed “the dangerous developments in Gaza and the situation in the West Bank,” Jordan’s royal palace said.
They are united in pushing for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and to “ensure the uninterrupted delivery of humanitarian aid” to the area, the palace said.
In Tel Aviv on Tuesday, Mr Blinken pushed Israel to take the humanitarian needs of Gazans into consideration.
Diplomats and officials in the region said Israel has been paying little heed to the efforts of Mr Blinken and other US officials.
Washington agrees with its Arab allies that the high civilian death toll in Gaza is unacceptable, and that the war should not result in the permanent displacement of Palestinians.
“Israel is acting like a wild horse, and the Arab leaders don’t like that,” one of the diplomats said.
“But they realise that the US is the only force that is somewhat restraining it.”
Although the war appears to have revived the international quest for a two-state solution, a main demand for the three leaders meeting in Aqaba, they realise that “it’s a long shot” as long as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in office, said one of the sources, who is in Cairo.
The source said that the three leaders in Aqaba will discuss a postwar scenario for Gaza suggested by Mr Blinken, although Mr Abbas is unhappy that the Palestinian Authority has been largely left out of this.
He objects to the presence of a multinational force in Gaza for a transitional period, a proposal backed by Washington, fearing that it would undermine any role for the Palestinian Authority, the source said.
The Israeli military, which says that Hamas members are hiding among civilians, expects its Gaza campaign to continue throughout this year as the focus of its operation shifts from the north to the centre and south of the strip.
The operation started a day after Hamas and other militant groups supported by Iran, attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 Israelis on October 7.
Since then, the Israeli offensive has killed more than 23,300 people in Gaza, Palestinian officials said.
Mr Blinken said Israel had agreed to allow a UN mission into northern Gaza to study how the area’s residents can be allowed to return there.
About 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced from their homes within the enclave.
Many of those displaced were from Gaza city and surrounding areas in the north of the territory, which endured the heaviest Israeli bombing in the initial stages of the war.
Mr Blinken described the UN plan as a potential “assessment mission”.
But he said that fighting an enemy who hides in a civilian population was “incredibly challenging”.
Israel has shifted its military focus to Khan Younis, in southern Gaza.