Jordan recalled its ambassador to Israel on Wednesday as the death toll in Gaza continues to increase while the humanitarian situation worsens.
Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi ordered the ambassador to return to Amman “as an expression of Jordan’s position of rejection and condemnation of the raging Israeli war on Gaza, which is killing innocent people and causing an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe,” according to a statement released by Jordan’s Foreign Ministry.
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Jordan also informed the Israeli Foreign Ministry that Ambassador Rogel Rachman, Israel's ambassador to Jordan, who is not currently in Jordan, should not return to Amman.
“The return of the ambassadors will be linked to Israel stopping its war on Gaza and stopping the humanitarian catastrophe it is causing and all its measures that deprive the Palestinians of their right to food, water, medicine, and their right to live safely and stable on their national soil," the Jordanian ministry said in its statement.
The Jordanians' decision came a day after the Israeli military launched an airstrike in northern Gaza targeting Hamas’s Central Jabaliya Battalion, including one of the Hamas leaders responsible for the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks but likely killed dozens of civilians in the area as well. The Israel Defense Forces defended the strike and noted that the intended target was the underground tunnel structure where Ibrahim Biari and other terrorists were hiding. When the strike occurred, the tunnel system collapsed, leading buildings nearby to collapse.
The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs also condemned the strike "in the strongest terms possible" and said in a statement that "the Kingdom condemns and totally rejects the repeated targeting by the Israeli occupation forces of densely populated civilian areas, and its continuing violation of international law and international humanitarian law."
The Biden administration was on the verge of agreeing to a normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia prior to the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks, which is now teetering. Their response to the Tuesday strike continues to demonstrate the fragility of any possible deal and how the war could prevent such an agreement altogether.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday that Israel was “completely out of its mind,” and he claimed that Hamas is not a terrorist organization but a liberation group of "mujahideen."
Condemnation of the strike was not limited to the Middle East. The Bolivian government severed ties with Israel on Tuesday due to Israel's "crimes against humanity," while Chile recalled its ambassador “in the face of the unacceptable violations of international humanitarian law committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip." Colombia also recalled its ambassador to Israel.