Arab League, Jordan condemn Israel 'escalation' in Gaza

Arab League denounces Israeli air assaults on Gaza, says UN must take action to end attacks. Jordan urges "immediate" halt to Israel's "military escalation," claiming it threatens regional stability

AFP|Published: 08.21.11 , 15:47

The Arab League on Sunday condemned Israeli air assaults on the Gaza Strip and said the United Nations must take action to end the attacks.

"We issued a statement condemning the Israeli offensive on Gaza ... and Egyptian land," Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby told reporters in Cairo. "The United Nations has to take procedures to stop the Israeli offensive on Gaza," he said, without giving details of the measures he was urging the UN to take.

South under fire:

IAF strikes Gaza as rockets continue to pound south

"The United Nations has to take procedures to stop the Israeli offensive on Gaza," he said, without giving details of the measures he was urging the UN to take.

Among those killed in the aeriel attacks were the leader of an armed Palestinian faction and five civilians including three children. Israel launched the strikes after an assault along its border killed eight Israelis on Thursday.

Jordan calls for 'immediate halt'

Meanwhile, Jordan on Sunday urged an "immediate" halt to Israel's "military escalation" in the Gaza Strip, warning that it threatens regional stability.

"Jordan rejects and condemns Israel's military escalation and operations in Gaza that have killed civilians as well as Egyptian officers," Information Minister Abdullah Abu Rumman said in a statement carried by the state-run Petra news agency.

Jordan, which signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, "rejects any acts that target civilians," said Abu Rumman, who also acts as government spokesperson.

"The kingdom calls for an immediate halt to this dangerous military escalation in order to avoid repercussions that could threaten the security and stability of the region," he said.

Tensions in and around the Gaza Strip have soared since Thursday when terrorists staged a series of deadly shooting attacks in the Negev desert, killing eight Israelis and prompting a wave of bloody tit-for-tat exchanges.

It also sparked a diplomatic crisis with Egypt after Cairo said five policemen were killed by Israeli fire as soldiers hunted down the remaining gunmen involved in the Negev ambushes.

Since Thursday, 15 Palestinians have been killed, nine of them terrorists, and 47 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza, while one Israeli has been killed and dozens injured in a barrage of more than 100 rockets and mortars fired on cities and towns in the south.