Washington:
US President Joe Biden will host Jordan’s King Abdullah II next week, the White House said Friday, as Middle East negotiations continue for a ceasefire in Gaza.
The meeting will be “private” and will be followed by a reading, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters, without providing a date for the meeting.
The meeting takes place in the context of negotiations for an agreement to release hostages and guarantee a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, after almost seven months of war.
The talks, which take place after months of efforts by mediators Egypt, Qatar and the United States to broker a new agreement between the combatants, are at a critical moment.
The United States urged the Palestinian operational group to accept the “extraordinarily generous” offer.
But Hamas on Friday accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to derail the proposed Gaza deal with his threats to launch an operation in Rafah.
King Abdullah II last visited the White House in February, when he called for an immediate ceasefire and warned that an attack on Rafah would cause a “humanitarian catastrophe”.
In April, Jordan worked alongside the United States and other allies to shoot down Iranian drones that Tehran sent to Israel, with the kingdom eager to avoid a wider conflict.
(Except the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
This story originally appeared on Ndtv.com read the full story