Jordan's king rejects any Israeli plan to occupy parts of Gaza

AMMAN - Jordan's King Abdullah rejected any plans by Israel to occupy parts of Gaza or to create security zones within the enclave, saying the root cause of the crisis was Israel's denial of Palestinians' legitimate rights, state media said on Monday.

In comments at the royal palace, the king was quoted as telling senior politicians that there could be "no military or security solution" to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

He said war-ravaged Gaza should not be severed by Israel from the other Palestinian territories.

The monarch said the "root of the crisis was Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories and its denial of Palestinians legitimate rights."

"The solution starts from there and any other path is doomed to failure and more of a cycle of violence and destruction," he said.

Abdullah said he had long warned about Israeli violations in the West Bank, with which Jordan shares a border, and Jewish settler attacks on Palestinian civilians could "expand the conflict" and push the region "to the abyss".

Jordan is home to a large population of Palestinian refugees and their descendants who fear Israel could expel Palestinians en masse from the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Israeli settler attacks on Palestinian inhabitants have surged since Hamas's Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel.

Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said in an interview with public broadcaster Al Mamlaka that Israel had crossed "every legal, ethical and humanitarian red line in its barbaric war on Gazans."

"Israel refuses to listen. What it is doing is not self- defence but committing war crimes," he added.

Abdullah said this month the only path to permanent peace was revived negotiations on an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. U.S.-brokered negotiations have been frozen for almost a decade.

Washington has said Israel cannot occupy the enclave after the war, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying the Gaza administration had to be re-unified with the nearby West Bank, parts of which are run by the Palestinian Authority.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the Palestinian Authority should not take charge in Gaza. Last week he said Israel would take control of security in Gaza for an indefinite period.