(Tel Aviv) US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday visited Jordan’s first convoy of Jordanian aid trucks heading to Gaza via a newly opened crossing by Israel, stressing progress but calling for more action in this direction.
Mr. Blinken visited a humanitarian aid loading zone on the outskirts of Amman before flying to Tel Aviv for talks with Israeli leaders.
The warehouse of the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization was filled with aid from American charities, medical supplies and food supplies, including cooking oil, rice and dried fruit.
Blinken said the trucks would leave for Erez, a crossing into northern Gaza recently reopened following pressure from US President Joe Biden.
“This is real and important progress, but there is still much to do,” said the US Secretary of State. “We need to make sure that […] the help people need reaches them effectively.”
Mr. Blinken also said he met a group of women in Jordan who had fled Gaza and “heard their suffering”.
A Jordanian official said the aid shipment would feed 100 to 150 families for about a week, in a territory where most of the two million people have been displaced by war. He acknowledged logistical problems in Gaza, including a lack of drivers and distribution networks.
Antony Blinken, who is making his seventh tour in the region since the start of the war on October 7 between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, praised Jordan’s humanitarian efforts and the “extraordinary work” carried out by the United Nations.
“Clear list”
“This is an important moment to make sure that everything that needs to be done is being done,” Blinken said during his meeting in Amman with the Coordinator for Humanitarian Action and Reconstruction at Gaza, Sigrid Kaag.
He also met separately with King Abdullah II and Foreign Minister Aymane Safadi, to discuss assistance and diplomatic efforts towards a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas coupled with a release of hostages held in Gaza.
PHOTO JORDANIAN MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, PROVIDED TO AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Jordanian Foreign Minister Aymane Safadi and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken
In front of the press, Mr. Blinken called on Hamas to accept “without further delay” the truce proposal prepared by the mediators and submitted Monday to the Palestinian movement.
“No more delays, no more excuses. The time to act is now,” Mr. Blinken said shortly before his departure for Israel. “We want to see this agreement come to fruition in the coming days.”
Mr. Safadi stressed “the need to […] achieve a just and comprehensive peace within the framework of the two-state solution”, Israeli and Palestinian living side by side in peace and security.
Jordan, which maintains diplomatic relations with Israel and has a large Palestinian population, is particularly sensitive to tensions in neighboring Palestinian territories.
In mid-April, Amman shot down Iranian drones fired at Israel. While working with the United States, the Jordanian kingdom wants to avoid being affected by a possible conflict.
Despite criticism abroad and growing anger on U.S. college campuses, President Joe Biden’s administration is supporting Israel in its campaign against Hamas, while urging its close ally to do more to protect civilians.
The United States is pressuring Israel to make it easier for aid to enter by road and has also begun building a floating port off the Gaza coast, intended to accommodate cargo arriving by boat.
Mr. Blinken said he hoped the maritime corridor would be ready within the week.
The US Secretary of State, who meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, indicated that he would seek to obtain from Israel its agreement on a “clear” list of products needed for Gaza so that they are not subject to to “arbitrary refusals”.