Jordan’s king terms independent Palestinian state vital for regional peace

Amman: Jordan’s King Abdullah said that no peace is possible in the Middle East without establishment of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.

He said two-state solution is only option for peace in the region.

He said peace will remain elusive without emergence of a Palestinian state with sovereignty on land that Israel had captured in the 1967 Arab-Israel war.

Earlier in the day, Israel has mobilized 360,000 reservists and likely to launch a ground offensive into Gaza where hospitals ran low on supplies and an imminent power blackout.

Airstrikes have smashed entire city blocks to rubble and left unknown numbers of bodies beneath mounds of debris.

Israel has stopped the entry of food, water, fuel and medicine into the territory — a 40-kilometer-long strip of land wedged among Israel, Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea that is home to 2.3 million Palestinians.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Health Ministry said the death toll in Israeli air-strikes on Gaza Strip and West Bank has risen to 1,078 and 5,314 people injured.

In a statement, the ministry said, among the 1,078 deaths, 1055 were in Gaza