Jordan’s King Abdullah (R) meets with France’s President Emmanuel Macron, at Al Husseiniya Palace in Amman, Jordan, on October 25, 2023. (Photo by Reuters)

Jordan’s King has warned that there would be a serious escalation in violence in the West Asia region if Israel does not end its brutal military campaign against the Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip.

Abdullah II bin al-Hussein issued the warning on Wednesday as he met French President Emmanuel Macron in the Jordanian capital Amman, according to a royal court statement.

The continuation of the (Gaza) war will lead to an explosion of the situation in the region, Abdullah was quoted as telling Macron, the statement said.

It said King Abdullah had also called for increased global pressure on Israel to force the regime to stop its attacks on Gaza, adding that stopping the conflict in Gaza is an absolute necessity.

The remarks echo worries among governments in the region that the Israeli aggression against Gaza could expand well beyond the besieged territory.

Some 6,546 Palestinians, including 2,704 children, have been killed and nearly 18,000 people have been injured in about three weeks of Israeli airstrikes and shelling against Gaza, a territory on the Mediterranean which is home to more than 2.3 million people.

Regional leaders have condemned Israel for its unrelenting bomb attacks targeting civilians in Gaza which the regime says is necessary to root out Hamas, a resistance movement based in the Strip which launched a series of attacks on Israeli-occupied territories earlier this month, killing some 1,400 Israeli settlers and military forces.

Macron, however, has repeated statements made by Western leaders in recent weeks in defense of the Israeli regime. He said during a visit to Tel Aviv on Tuesday that the fight against Hamas must be without mercy although he issued a veiled plea for Israel to stick to the rules in its war on Hamas.

King Abdullah said in the meeting with Macron that Jordan, which borders Palestinian territories to the west and is home a large population of Palestinian refugees and their descendants, would oppose Israeli plans to create a new exodus of Palestinians in the region.

We are against any attempt by Israel to create an exodus of Palestinians or internally displace the inhabitants of Gaza, King Abdullah said.