The foreign ministers of several Arab countries who held a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Jordan on Saturday called for an urgent "unconditional" cease-fire in Gaza amid Israel's incessant attacks, which killed over 9,400 Palestinians.
"We stress the need to agree on an immediate and comprehensive cease-fire in Gaza without conditions," Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said during a joint news conference with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the Jordanian capital.
"What is happening in Gaza cannot be justified," Shoukry said.
Decrying the mass killings in Gaza, Jordanian Foreign Minister Safadi called for a cease-fire and argued: "How can we justify to anyone the killing of over 9,000 people, including 4,000 children, in the name of Israel's self-defense?"
He also said: "We demand a cease-fire and reject calling what is happening (in Gaza) self-defense. What is happening cannot be justified and will not bring security to Israel."
Safadi called for the need to immediately deliver adequate aid to the Gaza Strip and stop the displacement of Palestinians.
"Murder and war crimes must stop, and Israel's immunity from international law must end," he said.
The meeting was attended by the foreign ministers of Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt, and a representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), according to Jordan's official news agency Petra.
Rejecting widespread calls for a cease-fire in Gaza, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed this would give Hamas a chance to carry out another attack like the one that began the current conflict.
"A cease-fire now will simply leave Hamas in place, able to regroup and repeat what it did on Oct. 7," Blinken told the joint news conference.
He added: "It is important to reaffirm Israel's right to defend itself and its obligation to do so and to take the necessary steps so Oct. 7 never happens again. But what is also important is the way Israel does that, and that's what we talked to the Israeli government about."
The U.S. has reportedly pressed Israel, mostly behind the scenes, to try to defend itself more humanely, but to little apparent effect on the ground.
While continuing its cutoff of electricity, fuel and water supplies to Gaza, this week Israel let in a trickle of humanitarian aid, but far less than what the strip's 2.3 million residents need to survive.
