By Austin Ogwuda with Agency report
War situation between Israel and Hamas is presently fierce, critical and catastrophic as over 500 civilians including women and children were killed at a Gaza hospital.
Jordan has therefore, cancelled a summit with US President Joe Biden and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi after a deadly Israeli strike at a Gaza hospital.
Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas earlier withdrew from the meeting.
The Gaza health ministry says at least 500 were killed in the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, many of them women and children.
A UN-run school housing refugees was also struck.
White House sidesteps questions about cancellation of Biden’s trip to Jordan.
The White House has sidestepped questions about the cancellation of President Joe Biden’s trip to Jordan, where he was originally scheduled to discuss the Gaza crisis with King Abdullah, Egypt’s Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
In response to questions by reporters aboard the Air Force One heading to Israel, White House spokesperson John Kirby said the decision to cancel the meeting was “mutual”.
It was reported earlier that Jordan cancelled the meeting in protest of the deadly bombing of Gaza’s al-Ahli Hospital that killed over 500 people.
Kirby also said that the main reason Abbas pulled out of the Amman summit was the three days of mourning declared after the hospital attack, which Palestinian officials blame on Israel.
Protests denouncing Israel across the Middle East and North Africa. Spontaneous protests have emerged in a number of major cities across the Middle East and North Africa region, as well as elsewhere, some devolving into confrontations with local security forces.In the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority, Palestinians angrily denounced Israel for the hospital attack, before turning their ire to the PA itself, before security forces turned on the protesters.
In the Lebanese capital Beirut, protesters gathered outside the US embassy in the city, before some attempted to break through the security barriers that surround the site.
Security forces fired tear gas and water cannons in an effort to break up the protest.In Amman, where Jordan had been planning to host a summit with President Biden, Egypt’s President el-Sisi and the PA’s President Abbas on Wednesday before it was cancelled, protesters also gathered outside the Israeli embassy compound, with some breaching one of the security barriers before being dispersed.
Hundreds gathered outside the French embassy in Tunis, chanting anti-French and anti-American slogans.
Egyptian opposition parties led protests in front of the US embassy in Cairo, while others took place in neighbouring Giza.And in Istanbul, Turkey’s biggest city, protesters gathered outside the Israeli consulate, before police dispersed the crowd.
White House: Biden will ask Netanyahu ‘tough questions’ during Israel visit. White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Air Force One that US President Joe Biden will ask “tough questions” during his visit with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli leaders.
Kirby did not specify what those questions are, but added that Biden wanted to get a sense from the Israelis about their objectives in the days ahead, amid a possible ground invasion.
Kirby issued the statement after Jordan cancelled Biden’s visit to Amman in protest of the deadly air strike at al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza, which Palestinian officials blame on Israel.
“Those found responsible must be held to account”, says UN rights chief Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has joined the UN Secretary General in describing the attack on Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City as “horrific”.
Türk added that hospitals are “sacrosanct” and that “those found responsible must be held to account”, in a statement issued from Geneva.
He also called on “all states with influence” to do “everything in their power to bring an end to this horrendous situation.
“Human rights organisations have said that attacks on hospitals are a war crime. Israel is denying responsibility for the strike.
The statements from Türk and UN Secretary General Guterres suggest a change in language after senior UN officials remained relative muted in their comments about the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza over the last week.
Protests reported near NATO base in Turkey’s Malatya. We are getting reports of angry protesters massing near a NATO facility in Turkey’s Malatya province, where US servicemen are believed to be also stationed.
Credit: Al Jazeera
