RAMALLAH: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas called Thursday for “an immediate end to the comprehensive aggression against the Palestinian people,” his office said following a meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah II.
In his first public remarks since a massive Hamas onslaught on southern Israeli communities early Saturday that spiralled into deadly war, Abbas rejected “practices related to killing civilians or abusing them on both sides,” according to a statement.
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The two leaders met in Amman and discussed “ways to stop the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people and deliver aid and relief” to Hamas-controlled Gaza, the statement said.
The targeting of civilians by both Israeli forces and Palestinian militants “contravenes morals, religion and international law,” Abbas said.
According to the statement, he stressed Palestinians “renounce violence and adhere to international legitimacy, peaceful popular resistance, and political action as a path to achieving our national goals.”
Abbas also “warned of the danger of the only power plant in the Gaza Strip stopping working due to running out of fuel” and urged action to secure the supply of electricity and water as well as “opening urgent humanitarian corridors.”
With dozens of Israeli civilians and security personnel believed to be held captive in Gaza and Palestinian militants captured by Israel, Abbas called “for the release of civilians, prisoners and detainees.”
The Palestinian Authority which Abbas heads is based in the occupied West Bank, while his rival Hamas controls the Gaza Strip.
Jordan’s King Abdullah ordered the government on Thursday to allocate 3 million dinars ($4.23 million) for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, the Jordanian state news agency reported on Thursday.
