US president, Jordan's king discuss Gaza

WASHINGTON

US President Joe Biden and Jordan’s King Abdullah II discussed the latest situation in the Gaza Strip, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Monday.

"They discussed the strong partnership between the US and Jordan. They also spoke about the situation in Gaza, of course, including efforts to secure the hostage deal and to get more humanitarian assistance to the civilians of Gaza," Kirby told reporters.

He added that Biden hosted the king for lunch at the White House.

The Palestinian resistance group Hamas said late Monday that it had accepted a Qatari-Egyptian proposal for a cease-fire in Gaza.

Israel said in response, however, that the truce offer accepted by Hamas does not meet its key demands.

Israel’s war cabinet decided to push ahead with an operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah “in order to apply military pressure on Hamas with the goal of making progress on freeing the hostages and the other war aims.”

The Israeli army issued immediate evacuation orders early Monday for Palestinians in the eastern neighborhoods of Rafah and called on them to move to the town of al-Mawasi in southern Gaza.

Rafah is home to more than 1.5 million displaced Palestinians who have taken refuge from the war launched by Israel following an Oct. 7 attack last year by Hamas that killed nearly 1,200 people.

Since then, the Israeli onslaught has killed more than 34,700 Palestinians, mostly women and children, besides causing a humanitarian catastrophe.

Nearly seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians there.