As he met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in London, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi called for international pressure to...
As he met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in London, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi called for international pressure to stop Israel from carrying out "ethnic cleansing" in Gaza.
“The humanitarian situation is really difficult when we look at northern Gaza, where we do see ethnic cleansing taking place, and that has got to stop,” Safadi told his US counterpart on Friday.
At the conclusion of his eleventh round of Middle East shuttle diplomacy, Blinken made a stop in London, where he visited Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Qatar.
Safadi stated that the Middle East is "sadly getting worse every time we meet."
He stated, "Not because we haven't tried, but because we do have an Israeli government that is not listening to anyone, and that has got to stop."
"Real urgency": Blinken also said on Friday that he would work "really urgently" to find a diplomatic solution to end Israel's offensive in Lebanon, but that it was first important to agree on how to disarm Hezbollah, the armed group in Lebanon.
Blinken pleaded for the protection of civilians shortly after meeting with Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati in London, but he did not call for an immediate ceasefire.
Blinken told reporters he was "intensely engaged" and stated, "We have a sense of real urgency in getting to a diplomatic resolution and the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, such that there can be real security along the border between Israel and Lebanon."
Resolution 1701, which was approved in 2006 following a war between Israel and Hezbollah, calls for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon and the disarmament of non-state groups there. This is a reference to Hezbollah, which effectively runs its own military.
According to Blinken, "getting the understandings that are necessary for the full implementation of 1701" was crucial.
He stated, "The sooner we can do that, the sooner we can reach a solution."
In the interim, he pleaded for the safety of both civilians and Lebanese soldiers, of whom at least 11 have perished since Israel's offensive began a month ago.
"We need to ensure that in places like Beirut, there is a genuine work to ensure that individuals are safe and regular folks are not up to speed in this crossfire," Blinken said.
The UN refugee agency warned that Israeli air strikes on a border crossing with Syria were preventing refugees from trying to flee the war. Lebanon's Ministry of Health reported that three journalists were killed by an Israeli strike on Friday in south Lebanon.
Subsequent to meeting Blinken, Mikati blamed Israel for purposefully focusing on columnists and said the strike was a "atrocity".
Najib Mikati said in a statement that the new Israeli attack on journalists was one of the "war crimes committed by the Israeli enemy." He added that the attack was "deliberate" and "aimed to terrorize the media to cover up crimes and destruction."
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