Jordanian, Dutch foreign ministers discuss Israeli war on Gaza

AMMAN, Jordan

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and his Dutch counterpart Hanke Bruins Slot on Friday discussed the ongoing Israeli devastating onslaught on the Gaza Strip.

According to a statement by the Jordanian Foreign Ministry, their meeting took place in Amsterdam during which they discussed efforts to prevent the war from spreading regionally, secure an immediate cease-fire, and stop an Israeli attack on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

Safadi warned of "the disastrous consequences of the ongoing aggression against Gaza and the storming of Rafah."

Despite international warnings against an attack on Rafah, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on several occasions to go ahead with plans to attack the tiny city, which is home to over 1.4 million displaced Palestinians, under the pretext of fighting battalions of Hamas in Rafah.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on Gaza since the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion, which killed around 1,200 people.

Tel Aviv, in comparison, has killed nearly 34,600 Palestinians and wounded 77,700 others amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities in the Palestinian territory.

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

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in January issued an interim ruling that ordered Tel Aviv to prevent genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara