US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has a meeting on Saturday in Amman, Jordan with a number of senior Arab diplomats to discuss current humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
Blinken meets with five of his Arab counterparts in Amman to reaffirm the “Arab position” on achieving a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and ensuring the delivery of aid to the region, according to a Jordanian Foreign Ministry statement on Friday.
Blinken had the opportunity to talk with foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates, Abdullah bin Zayed, Saudi Arabia’s Faisal bin Farhan, Qatar’s Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Egypt’s Sameh Shoukry, and Hussein Al-Sheikh, secretary-general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Blinken, along with his Jordanian and Egyptian counterparts, is expected to hold a press conference; he also met with senior diplomats and Al-Sheikh met with Jordan’s King Abdullah, the Jordanian Royal Court said.
The King highlighted “the need for continued Arab coordination to speak with one voice to the international community on critical developments in Gaza.”
The statement also said the following:
The duty of Arab nations is to put pressure on the international community and influential global powers to cease the war on Gaza, ensure a continuous flow of aid to the region, and protect civilians” and reaffirmed Jordan’s condemnation of the massacres of innocent civilians in the Gaza Strip.
This week, the Israeli army stepped up air attacks on the Gaza Strip and expanded ground operations. Israeli attacks have killed at least 9,488 Palestinians, the majority of them children and women, while the number of Israeli fatalities has exceeded 1,500, according to official figures.
