Jordanian King says Mideast on brink of “abyss” but Gazan refugees cannot flee to Jordan

Jordanian King says Mideast on brink of “abyss” but Gazan refugees cannot flee to Jordan

Karen Faulkner

While emphasizing that Gazan refugees will be denied entry to both Jordan and Egypt, Jordanian King Abdullah II said Tuesday that the Israel-Hamas war has brought the Middle East to the brink of “an abyss,” the Times of Israel reports. Jordan’s King made his remarks after a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin.

The Hamas Palestinian terror group which rules Gaza triggered a war with Israel by launching the worst attack on Israeli civilians in 75 years, slaughtering 1,300 men, women and children and kidnapping around 200 more on October 7. After learning of the atrocities inflicted on the Israelis by the terrorists, US Biden administration described Hamas as “worse than ISIS.”

In the wake of the horrifying attack, Israel launched a devastating air strike campaign against Hamas targets in Gaza, in an effort to completely dismantle the Hamas infrastructure once and for all. As part of this campaign, and in order to minimize civilian casualties, Israel has instructed 1.1 million Gazans to evacuate the north and move to the south. For its part, Hamas told its citizens to stay put.

“The whole region is on the brink of falling into the abyss,” Abdullah said in his remarks Tuesday. “All our efforts are needed to make sure we don’t get there,” he said. “On the issue of refugees coming to Jordan — and I think I can quite strongly speak on behalf not only of Jordan as a nation but of our friends in Egypt — that is a red line.”

The intensifying humanitarian crisis in Gaza “has to be dealt with inside Gaza and the West Bank,” Abdullah said.