Jordan says it is working to contain latest violence in Palestine

Israel committed 'aggression' in Gaza, says Foreign Ministry

Palestinian take cover during a raid in the West Bank city of Nablus, on May 9, 2023. AFP

The Jordanian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said it was seeking an “immediate halt” to violence in Palestine after Israeli strikes killed 13 people in Gaza.

“Jordan is continuing to communicate and taking action for an immediate halt to this dangerous escalation,” said spokesman Sinan Majali.

He said an international effort must be made to “to stop this aggression and provide protection for the Palestinian people in Gaza and in all the occupied Palestinian territory”.

Israel said three commanders of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a militant group supported by Iran and Syria, were killed in overnight air strikes.

The group said three of its commanders were killed in the attack, along with their wives and some of their children. Palestinian health officials put the death toll at 13.

Jordan has close ties with the Palestinian Authority, which was ousted from Gaza in 2006 by Hamas, another Palestinian militant movement supported by Iran. Jordan has open communication channels with Hamas, although the group's leadership was expelled from Jordan in the late 1990s.

A large proportion of the kingdom's 10 million population are of Palestinian origin and Jordanian officials have repeatedly warned against more Israeli suppression of the Palestinians, signalling that another wave of refugees into Jordan would affect its stability.