Gaza conference in Jordan highlights Qatari mediation’s role in reaching ceasefire

AMMAN: The Call for Action: Urgent Humanitarian Response for Gaza conference, held yesterday at the Dead Sea in Jordan, emphasized the importance of...

AMMAN: The “Call for Action: Urgent Humanitarian Response for Gaza” conference, held yesterday at the Dead Sea in Jordan, emphasized the importance of mediation efforts by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States to reach an agreement ensuring a permanent ceasefire throughout the Gaza Strip, the release of hostages and detainees, and the unobstructed delivery and increase of humanitarian aid.

This was stated in the final communiqué of the conference. It called for the establishment of an immediate and permanent ceasefire to be fully respected and for facilitating and supporting the creation of a United Nations mechanism within Gaza to expedite the delivery of humanitarian relief shipments.

Participants in the conference expressed grave concern over the significant loss of life, unprecedented civilian casualties, and the humanitarian disaster caused by the war in Gaza, including the targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure, and the continued lack of humanitarian aid access to those in need.

They also condemned attacks on UN personnel and other humanitarian workers, including more than 250 attacks on schools of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and other buildings sheltering the displaced, with at least 193 UNRWA staff members and at least 135 of their children killed. They called for a full investigation into each of these deaths.

The communique denounced the effects of the war in Gaza, including ongoing operations in Rafah that have exacerbated the catastrophic humanitarian situation, and condemned in the strongest terms the attacks on Palestinian refugee camps.