Enterprise-Record (Chico)

Jordan official offers blistering criticism of Israel

- By Jon Gambrell

Jordan's foreign minister offered blistering criticism Saturday of Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, describing it as “blatant aggression” against Palestinia­n civilians that threatens to engulf the wider Middle East.

Ayman Safadi's harsh assessment, alleging Israel was committing “war crimes” by besieging the Gaza Strip and cutting off food, medicine and fuel shipments, shows how strained relations have become between Israel and Jordan — which reached a peace deal in 1994.

“All of us have to speak loud and clear about the catastroph­e that the Israeli war is bringing, not just on Gaza, but on the region in general,” Safadi told the Internatio­nal Institute for Strategic Studies' Manama Dialogue summit in Bahrain. “This is not a time for mincing words. This is a time to state facts as they are.”

He added: “This is not

self-defense. This is a blatant aggression, the victims of which are innocent Palestinia­ns.”

Israel did not immediatel­y respond to Safadi's comments, which included a call for an immediate cease-fire and end to the fighting. However, on

hand was Brett McGurk, the White House's National Security Council coordinato­r for the Middle East, who said that “a release of large number of hostages would result in a significan­t pause in fighting ... and a massive surge of humanitari­an relief.”

“There's no returning to Oct. 6. That's true for Israel. It's true for Palestinia­ns,” McGurk said. “No country can live with the threats of terror like what we saw from Hamas unleashed, on Oct. 7 on their border. And at the same time, Palestinia­ns deserve need and require safety and self-determinat­ion.”

The European Union's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, added: “It's quite understand­able that without the freedom of the hostages, nothing can be solved.”

Safadi later offered a sharp retort to that: “Israel is taking 2.3 million Palestinia­ns hostage.”

The war began with Hamas' unpreceden­ted Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel. Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted some 240 men, women and children, taking them back into the Gaza Strip.

Israel responded with a pounding campaign of airstrikes, then a ground offensive that surrounded Gaza City to the Gaza Strip's north. More than 11,400 Palestinia­ns have been killed in the war, twothirds of them women and minors, according to Palestinia­n health authoritie­s. Another 2,700 have been reported missing, believed buried under rubble. The count does not differenti­ate between civilians and militants, and Israel says it has killed thousands of militants.

The annual Manama Dialogue in Bahrain typically focuses on Gulf Arab nations' fears about Iran in the region, something Borrell even joked about during his remarks. This year, however, the Israel-Hamas war has taken center stage, in part as Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates reached diplomatic recognitio­n deals with Israel in 2020.

Friday night, Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa opened the summit with a call for a swap between Hamas and Israel for the hostages and a halt in the bloodshed.

“You want to call it a cease-fire. You want to call it a pause. You can call it whatever you want,” the prince said. “The intention is a break so people can take stock. People can bury their dead. People can finally start to grieve. And maybe people can start to ask themselves about the intelligen­ce failure that led to this crisis in the first place.”

 ?? FATIMA SHBAIR — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? Palestinia­ns ride donkey carts during the ongoing Israeli bombardmen­t of the Gaza Strip in Khan Younis on Friday.
FATIMA SHBAIR — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Palestinia­ns ride donkey carts during the ongoing Israeli bombardmen­t of the Gaza Strip in Khan Younis on Friday.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States