LOC19:24
16:24 GMT
AMMAN, March 14 (KUNA) -- Jordan on Thursday warned of a worsening humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip due to Israel's refusal to allow sufficient humanitarian aid to more than 2.3 million Palestinians facing famine there.
Jordan's warning was expressed by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ayman Al-Safadi during two separate meetings today with the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, and UN Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza, Sigrid Kaag, according to the statement by the Jordanian Foreign Ministry.
Al-Safadi described Israel's prevention of the entry of medicine and food into Gaza as a war crime.
Israel is using food and medicine as a weapon against the Palestinians in a flagrant violation of international law and international humanitarian law, he said.
He also criticized the international community's weak response to the Israeli behavior, saying "this situation comes with unacceptable international silence that undermines credibility of international law".
Jordan, he affirmed, will continue to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza through all possible means, including airdrops as an exceptional means in facing inhumane conditions imposed by the Israeli occupation authorities.
Al-Safadi and the two UN officials agreed that there is no alternative to open all land crossing points to deliver aid as a way to meet needs of an entire society destroyed by Israel, and that all other means of introducing aid are insufficient, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.
He said Israel defies international law and the international community with its measures aimed at starving Palestinians, which created an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe during which children are thirsty and hungry.
The FM warned of the consequences of the international community's continued failure to oblige Israel to stop its war crimes against the Palestinians, including obstructing work of international organizations and preventing distribution of the little aid that enters Gaza.
He stressed that UNRWA's role cannot be dispensed with or replaced, stressing that no other party is capable of carrying out the mission that the agency plays in Gaza.
Emphasizing the need to support the agency, he valued reversal of some countries' decision to freeze their aid to UNRWA after the accusations leveled against a small number of the agency's staff.
He confirmed during his meeting with Sigrid Kaag that the Kingdom full support to UNRWA's mission.
In another meeting, Al-Safadi received Catherine Colonna, head of the independent review group to evaluate UNRWA's performance.
He reiterated Jordan's backing for the committee's mission and thanking its chair for her current "great" effort. (end)
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