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Queen Rania of Jordan has called out a “glaring double standard” over the western world’s collective condemnation of the Hamas attack on October 7 when compared with its response to Israel's bombing of Gaza.
Almost 6,000 Palestinians, including at least 2,300 children, have been killed by Israeli bombardments, Gaza's Health Ministry said, since Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing about 1,400 people and taking another 200 or more hostage.
Queen Rania said the military operations against Gaza, as well as calls for a ceasefire to allow aid to reach civilians there, have been met by “silence in the world”.
“The people all around the Middle East, including in Jordan, we are just shocked and disappointed by the world's reaction to this catastrophe that is unfolding,” Queen Rania told CNN's Christiane Amanpour.
“In the past couple of weeks, we have seen a glaring double standard in the world,” Queen Rania said.
“When October 7 happened, the world immediately and unequivocally stood by Israel and its right to defend itself and condemned the attack that happened.
“But what we’re seeing in the last couple of weeks, we're seeing silence in the world.”
Israel escalated air strikes across Gaza on Tuesday as medical centres and hospitals were shut down across the enclave because of bomb damage and lack of power.
Strikes killed at least 700 people in a 24-hour spell, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said on Tuesday.
Queen Rania said the western world is “complicit” in the death and destruction in Gaza.
“This is the first time in modern history that there is such human suffering and the world is not even calling for a ceasefire,” she said. “So the silence is deafening – and to many in our region, it makes the western world complicit.
“Are we being told that it is wrong to kill a family, an entire family, at gunpoint, but it’s OK to shell them to death? I mean, there is a glaring double standard here,” she said. “It is just shocking to the Arab world.”
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir vowed on Tuesday to continue to arm Israelis ahead of an expected invasion of Gaza.
Mr Ben-Gvir has ordered his ministry to distribute 10,000 assault rifles across the country and encouraged Israelis to sign up for civil “security units”.
“We have established more than 500 standby units and have so far distributed approximately 5,000 assault rifles to police volunteers,” he said on X. “We continue to arm the people of Israel.”
Queen Rania said the people of Jordan were united in their grief over the number of deaths in Gaza.
“I cannot begin to describe to you the depth of the grief, the pain, and the shock that we are feeling here in Jordan,” she said.
“All of us are united in this grief, regardless of our origin. We just can’t believe the images that we’re seeing every single day coming out of Gaza.
“As a mother, we've seen Palestinian mothers who have to write the names of their children on their hands because the chances of them being shelled to death, of their bodies turning into corpses are so high,” she said.
“I just want to remind the world that Palestinian mothers love their children just as much as any other mother in the world. And for them to have to go through this is just unbelievable.”
