Arab leaders on Saturday urged an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, pressing US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to convince Israel, but the top US diplomat said such a halt right now would only allow Palestinian militant group Hamas to regroup and attack Israel again.
In a rare public disagreement at a news conference in Amman, foreign ministers of Jordan and Egypt, standing alongside Blinken, repeatedly pushed for a cessation of hostilities, saying the death of thousands of civilians could not be justified as self-defense.
They also refused to discuss in-depth what comes next for Gaza, when and if Hamas is eradicated, saying the immediate focus should be on the effort to establish a cessation of hostilities.
“A ceasefire now would simply leave Hamas in place, able to regroup and repeat what it did on Oct. 7,” Blinken said. “No nation, none of us would accept that … So it is important to reaffirm Israel’s right and its obligation to defend itself.”
“The international community’s responsibility always is to seek the cessation of hostilities, not promote the continuance of violence,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said at the same press conference.
“I think we need to get our priorities straight,” Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said. “Right now we have to make sure that this war stops,” he added.
“What happens next – how can we even entertain what will happen in Gaza when we do not know what kind of Gaza will be left,” after this war, Safadi said.
