Egypt and Jordan criticises Israel's continuing aggression in the Gaza Strip

The foreign ministers of Egypt and Jordan have strongly criticized Israel's continuing aggression in the Gaza Strip after holding talks in Cairo on Wednesday.

“Minister Safadi and I have emphasized our complete rejection of the Israeli systematic policies to impose a new reality on the Palestinian people that forces them to flee, to displace them from their lands and country," Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told journalists at a news conference after the talks.

"This leads in the end to liquidating the Palestinian case and what it represents by eradicating the land for peace principle and the whole idea of a Palestinian country and nation," he added.

On Wednesday, the Israeli military urged all Palestinians to leave Gaza City and head south, pressing ahead with a fresh offensive across the north, south and center of the embattled territory that has killed dozens of people over the past 48 hours.

The Israeli military has dropped leaflets ordering all Palestinians from Gaza City, the largest city in the besieged territory.

Israel has been fighting in several outlying neighborhoods of Gaza City in recent days, sending thousands of Palestinians fleeing. Hamas militants have been regrouping in areas that Israel targeted in the earliest weeks of the war.

"Unfortunately, today we are at the 278th day of Israel's savage aggression on Gaza," Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said.

"Israel has committed unprecedented war crimes in modern history, from killing of children to killing United Nations relief workers, then the destruction of a whole community, targeting schools, hospitals, mosques and churches as well as turning Gaza to an unsafe place for any of our people in Gaza whether children, men, women or the elderly," he added.

Heavy Israeli bombardment throughout the territory could be aimed at increasing pressure on Hamas during negotiations for a cease-fire. U.S., Egyptian and Qatari mediators are meeting with Israeli officials in Qatar for talks trying to push through a deal.

In nine months of bombardment and offensives in Gaza, Israel has killed more than 38,200 people and wounded more than 88,000, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. Nearly the entire population has been driven from their homes. Many have been displaced multiple times. Hundreds of thousands are packed into sweltering tent camps.

Israel’s onslaught was triggered by Hamas’ cross-border raid on Oct. 7, during which militants killed 1,200 people in southern Israel, most of them civilians, according to Israeli authorities. The militants took roughly 250 people hostage. About 120 are still in captivity, with about a third said to be dead.