Jordan calls for international action to stop Israeli attacks on Gaza

Latest escalation between Israel and Gaza militants has claimed more than 30 lives in the Palestinian territory

Palestinian police officers inspect damage in Gaza after the latest bout of fighting. Reuters

Jordan on Sunday called on international powers to stop Israel’s “aggression” in the Gaza Strip, after at least 32 Palestinians were killed in attacks that started two days ago with the assassination of an Islamic Jihad commander.

Two senior members of the Palestinian militant group have been killed in the latest burst of violence, as well as civilians including children.

Islamic Jihad, which is closely aligned with Iran, responded by launching hundreds of rockets at Israel.

Jordan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the international community must “move immediately and effectively to stop the escalation and provide the brotherly Palestinian people with protection”.

“It is necessary that the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip be halted immediately," the ministry said.

"Israeli escalation and the terrorising of civilians will only lead to more tension and violence and to deepening the environment of despair."

Relations between Israel and Jordan deteriorated after the 11-day war in May last year between Israel and militant groups in Gaza supported by Iran. Bilateral ties improved this year, with Jordan and Israel agreeing recently to resume construction on a joint industrial zone.

Jordanian officials view the conflict in Palestine as intertwined with politics in the kingdom, which signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994.

A large proportion of Jordan’s population are descendants of Palestinian refugees who fled when Israel was created in 1948, and again during the 1967 war.

Jordan controlled the West Bank and East Jerusalem until it lost the two areas to Israel in 1967.

But it retains custodianship over Al Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem, one of the holiest places in Islam. The claim traces back to the early 20th century, when Palestinian notables gave the Sharif of Makkah, an ancestor of Jordan's King Abdullah, custodianship of the site.