Ayman Safadi, the Jordanian Foreign Minister, has used his opening remarks to call for a humanitarian ceasefire on behalf of Arab States, saying Israel’s response to Hamas’s attacks cannot be described as self-defence.
Safadi, who spoke in a joint news conference with the US Secretary of State and the Egyptian Foreign Minister, said Israel is committing “war crimes” and that it should not be above international law.
This is just as multiple people have reportedly been killed on Saturday in blasts at a UN school serving as a shelter for displaced people in the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza.
The Jordanian Foreign Minister said with every missile launched at Gaza and every Palestinian child killed, “the whole region is sinking in a sea of hatred that will define generations to come”.
The minister says this was “already starting to manifest itself” in “expressions and acts of hatred in the region”.
Mr Safadi says both Palestinians and Israelis “deserve to live in peace with dignity, with security and freedom from occupation and freedom from fear”.
He tells Antony Blinken the US has a “leading role” to play in efforts to bring the war to an end and achieving the “just peace” that is the right of Palestinians and Israelis alike.
He also says the war should not be allowed to “undermine all that has been done to bring about just peace to the region.”
On Gaza, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said two strikes hit the school and several people in tents in the schoolyard, as well as women who were baking bread inside the building, were killed.
Spokeswoman Juliette Touma also said that while initial reports indicated that 20 people were killed, the agency has not yet been able to verify the figure.
A Sky News team has been to Al-Fakhoura school and filmed the aftermath of the incident, but has not been able to identify the cause.
Our team also interviewed a witness, Anas Al Sharif, who was sheltering in the school, who told us: “We were sitting here in the shelter and the rockets struck us and killed children… only God can protect us. What did we do to deserve this?”
Mohammad Abu Selmeyah, the head of al Shifa Hospital and an official in the Hamas-led health ministry, said at least 15 people have died and dozens more have been wounded.
He added that the death toll is “expected to rise”.
We have put the reports to the Israel Defence Forces and have made a request for comment.
@Sky News
