Jordan calls for ‘transformative actions’ to force Israel to accept Gaza cease-fire

JERUSALEM

Jordan called Wednesday for taking “transformative actions” to force Israel to accept a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.

Speaking to the US news channel CNN, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said “the assassination of the chief negotiator of Hamas (Ismail Haniyeh) is a violation of international law and a reckless move that we condemn as a crime.”

“We must undertake transformative actions to force Israel to accept a cease-fire and end its aggression on Gaza,” he added.

Asked what Iran hopes to achieve at an extraordinary meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in the Saudi city of Jeddah on Wednesday, Safadi said the meeting “will not be able to bring about a cease-fire.”

The OIC meeting addressed Israel's crimes against Palestinians and attacks against Iran’s sovereignty.

"We need to do something really transformative here, regardless of where Iran is, where Israel is at this point, if we are to force Israel to accept a cease-fire, end the aggression in Gaza," Safadi said.

He also pointed out that “we have an opportunity at real de-escalation and we should move towards that. So the talks on the cease-fire are obviously complicated, particularly after the assassination of the chief negotiator from Hamas.”

"We have two paths: a path that drives the region further to the abyss of war or a path that would say enough is enough and save the region from the devastation of an all-out war," he added.

Israel is on high military alert for a potential Iranian attack following last week’s assassination of Haniyeh, Hamas’s political chief. While Hamas and Iran accused Israel of carrying out his assassination, Tel Aviv has not confirmed or denied responsibility.

The Lebanese group Hezbollah has also threatened to retaliate against Israel following the assassination of its senior commander Fuad Shukr in an airstrike on a southern suburb of Beirut on July 30.

The escalation comes amid Israel’s devastating offensive on the Gaza Strip since an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last October, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

More than 39,600 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 91,600 injured, according to local health authorities.

More than 10 months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.