KING Abdullah II of Jordan warned yesterday against the catastrophic repercussions of the ongoing Israeli destruction of Gaza, emphasising the urgent need to address the humanitarian crisis in the region.
In a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday, the King reiterated Jordan’s strong rejection of the forced displacement of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza, considering it a clear violation of international law. He underscored the necessity of enabling the people of Gaza to return to their homes.
Emphasising that the region won’t witness stability without a just solution to the Palestinian issue, achieving fair and comprehensive peace based on a two-state solution, King Abdullah II affirmed the Kingdom’s rejection of attempts to separate Gaza and the West Bank.
He condemned the acts of violence by colonial settler militias against Palestinians and the repeated violations against Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, calling for addressing these issues promptly to prevent further escalation in the region.
The only problem is that his partner in the talks Blinken represents a US regime that is arming and financing Israel’s mass murder campaign in the region which has so far murdered tens of thousands of Palestinians and is determined to continue to drive the Palestinian people out of the region into exile.
Yesterday, a seventh Palestinian young man succumbed to his wounds a few hours after he had been critically injured in an Israeli airstrike which initially killed six Palestinians, in the northern West Bank province of Jenin. Wadia Yaser As’ous, an 18-year-old Palestinian, succumbed to injuries sustained in the Israeli airstrike earlier yesterday, bringing the total number of martyrs to seven after an Israeli drone targeted a group of civilians at the Al-Shuhada Roundabout south of Jenin.
Fawwaz Hammad, the director of the Al-Razi Hospital in Jenin, said As’ous, whose brother, Mohammed, was killed in the Israeli airstrike, had been brought to the hospital in critical condition with shrapnel injuries to the neck, chest, and head. Despite the efforts of the medical staff to resuscitate him, he tragically passed away.
The Ministry of Health announced yesterday the martyrdom of six Palestinians, including the four siblings, Hazzaa, 27, Rami 22, Ahmed, 24, and Alaa Najeh Darweesh, 29, due to the Israeli shelling.
Eyewitnesses confirmed that the victims were peacefully sitting on the sidewalk near the Al-Shuhada Roundabout south of Jenin, with no confrontations in the area. The seven were executed in cold blood after being targeted by an Israeli drone airstrike.
Two journalists were killed, including the son of veteran Al Jazeera journalist Wael Al-Dahdouh, and another journalist was injured yesterday in an Israeli airstrike targeting their vehicle west of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
It has been reported that an Israeli drone fired a missile at a vehicle carrying journalists in al-Mawasi area to the west of Khan Younis, leading to the death of journalist Hamza, 29, the son of Wael Al-Dahdouh, and journalist Mustafa Thraya. The airstrike also resulted in the injury of two journalists, Ahmed Al-Burash and Amer Abu Amr, both working with the Palestine Today TV.
The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate has documented the killing of 102 journalists and the injury of 71 others by the Israeli occupation forces in the year 2023 alone.
On Saturday January 13th, hundreds of thousands of workers and youth will be marching through central London demanding the immediate establishment of the Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital. They must demand that the TUC call an indefinite general strike to bring down the Tories and bring in a workers government that will immediately recognise the state of Palestine, and arm the Palestinian masses to secure it! This is the way forward!
