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Jordan has warned the Middle East is at the edge of an “abyss”, as diplomatic activity intensifies to prevent the Israel-Hamas war from spiralling into a regional conflict.
King Abdullah of Jordan delivered his warning — together with a call for humanitarian assistance to the Gaza Strip and a refusal to take in Palestinian refugees who might never return home — ahead of a summit with US president Joe Biden on Wednesday.
“The whole region is on the brink of falling into the abyss,” the king told a press conference in Berlin with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, in comments translated by the German government. “The threat that this conflict spreads is real; the costs are too high for everyone.”
Jordan, which borders Israel and the occupied West Bank, has long been concerned that it could be destabilised by a massive influx of Palestinians.
King Abdullah was…
