Israel must stop ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Gaza, Jordan minister tells Blinken 

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi has called for international pressure to stop Israel from carrying out “ethnic cleansing” in Gaza, as he met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in London.

Safadi told his US counterpart on Friday that “the humanitarian situation is really difficult when we look at northern Gaza, where we do see ethnic cleansing taking place, and that has got to stop.”

Blinken stopped in London at the end of his 11th round of Middle East shuttle diplomacy, where he visited Israel, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

The Middle East is “getting worse, unfortunately, every time we meet,” Safadi said.

“Not for lack of us trying, but because we do have an Israeli government that is not listening to anybody, and that has got to stop,” he said.

Blinken also vowed Friday to work with “real urgency” for a diplomatic resolution to end Israel’s offensive in Lebanon but said it was first critical to reach an understanding on disarmament of the Lebanese armed group, Hezbollah.

Shortly after meeting Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Mikati in London, Blinken pleaded for protection of civilians but stopped short of calling for an immediate ceasefire.

“We have a sense of real urgency in getting to a diplomatic resolution and the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, such that there can be real security along the border between Israel and Lebanon,” Blinken told reporters, saying he was “intensely engaged”.

Resolution 1701, approved in 2006 after an earlier war between Israel and Hezbollah, calls for the disarmament of non-state groups in Lebanon – an allusion to Hezbollah, which effectively runs its own military – and a complete Israeli withdrawal from the country.

Blinken said it was critical to “get the understandings that are necessary for the full implementation of 1701”.

“The sooner we’re able to do that, the sooner we’re able to get a resolution,” he said.

In the meantime, he called for the protection of both civilians and Lebanese soldiers, at least 11 of whom have died since Israel launched its offensive a month ago.

“We want to make sure that in places like Beirut, there is a real effort to make sure that people are unharmed and civilians are not caught up in this crossfire,” Blinken said.

An Israeli strike killed three journalists in south Lebanon on Friday, Lebanon’s Ministry of Health said, and the UN refugee agency warned that Israeli air strikes on a border crossing with Syria were hindering refugees trying to flee the war.

After meeting Blinken, Mikati accused Israel of intentionally targeting journalists and said the strike was a “war crime”.

“The new Israeli aggression targeting journalists” was among the “war crimes committed by the Israeli enemy”, Najib Mikati said in a statement, adding the attack was “deliberate” and “aims to terrorise the media to cover up crimes and destruction”.