AMMAN: Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said on Thursday that Israel had turned “rogue” state with its “assassination” of the Hamas political leader and needed to be stopped.

He said the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s lead negotiator in efforts for a truce and hostage release deal for Gaza, was a clear sign that Israel had decided to undermine the US-backed talks.

“Yesterday, Israel assassinated Ismail Haniyeh. He was the one who was negotiating the exchange deal. So how on earth is a country that wants to conclude a deal killing the main interlocutor in those negotiations?” Safadi told a news conference.

“So when Netanyahu decided and sent his missiles to assassinate Haniyeh in Iran in violation of the sovereignty of another country and bringing escalation to a very high level, is that somebody who wants the deal to work?

“And all the work that has been done by Egypt, Qatar, and the US to bring a deal that would have brought a ceasefire, that would have released the hostages, that would have released prisoners, Israel decided to undermine all that”.

Israel has not commented on Haniyeh’s death, but both Iran and Hamas said it was the result of an Israeli air strike in Tehran.

Published in Dawn, August 2nd, 2024