Jordan condemns Israeli airstrikes on Gaza school, Saudi medical warehouse

AMMAN, Jordan

Jordan strongly condemned on Friday the Israeli airstrikes targeting the Dar Al-Arqam school, which shelters displaced people, and a Saudi medical warehouse in the Gaza Strip.

In a statement, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry denounced the Israeli actions emphasizing that they constitute a "clear breach of international law and humanitarian standards.”

On Thursday evening, the Palestinian Civil Defense reported that 31 Palestinians were killed in the attack on Dar Al-Arqam School, including children and women. Six people remain missing, and dozens were injured.

The Israeli airstrike also targeted the Saudi medical warehouse in the Morag area in Rafah, destroying medical supplies that were intended to support the medical needs of those injured in Gaza, according to the Saudi Foreign Ministry.

The Jordanian ministry expressed its “absolute rejection and strong condemnation” of Israel’s expansion of its aggression on Gaza and the continued systematic targeting of civilians and shelters for displaced people.

Jordan described these actions as a “flagrant violation” of the Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians in times of war, adopted in 1949, and related UN resolutions.

The ministry called on the international community to “fulfill its legal and moral responsibilities” by pressing Israel to immediately cease its aggression on Gaza and to open the necessary crossings for humanitarian aid to reach the region.

Jordan also reiterated its call for “the fulfillment of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, including the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with full sovereignty, based on the June 4, 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, as the only path to achieve security and stability in the region.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Sunday to escalate attacks on Gaza as efforts are underway to implement US President Donald Trump's plan to displace Palestinians from the enclave.

More than 50,600 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza in Israel's military onslaught since October 2023, most of them women and children.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.