AMMAN (Reuters) – Jordan’s King Abdullah participated in an air drop of humanitarian aid to Gaza, state-owned Al Mamlaka broadcaster said on Sunday.
A video showed the monarch in military gear on board a plane in the latest mission by the Jordanian air force to drop urgent medical supplies to field hospitals it runs in the war-torn enclave. According to official media, the latest airdrop was on Feb. 6.
The kingdom, which has been among Arab neighbours pushing Israel to allow more aid into Gaza, is the only country that airdrops aid to the enclave, channelling it through these two medical facilities.
It has conducted 11 air drops, with at least two conducted with the French and Dutch airforces, to deliver medical aid.
The king, who has been vocal in calling for an end to Israel’s campaign, left on Thursday on a tour of major Western capitals and is due to meet U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington on Feb 12. to lobby for an immediate ceasefire.
Jordan succeeded in getting Israel to allow the World Food Programme (WFP) to send deliveries to Gaza through another land route that begins from Jordan, helping ease pressure on the main Rafah border crossing which is limited in capacity.
Jordan, which shares a border with the West Bank, fears that the Gaza conflict could spread, with wider violence by armed settlers encouraged by the army triggering a large-scale Palestinian exodus to the other side of the Jordan River.
(Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Sharon Singleton)
Comments