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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Jordan's King Abdullah II fears Israel's military operation against Hamas in Gaza will compromise efforts to achieve a two-state solution, and will further entrench the plight of Palestinians, he told US Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday in Washington.

Referring to the crisis in Gaza as a "dangerous Israeli escalation," the Jordanian monarch asserted that developments over recent days "would increase the suffering of the Palestinian people and foil attempts to resume peace talks between Palestinians and the Israelis."

Israel's Operation Protective Edge, now in its fourth day, has featured over 1,000 Israel Air Force strikes on the coastal Gaza Strip. Hamas and other Islamist groups in the strip have fired 500 rockets from the territory since its initiation on July 8, and several hundred more in the three weeks prior to the beginning of the Israeli campaign.

Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu says that initial, unprovoked rocket fire forced his government to respond. Hamas accuses Israel's government of willfully killing Palestinian innocents.

In a readout of the same meeting, the White House made only passive mention of discussion between Biden and Abdullah on the Gaza crisis. The two also discussed the threat of ISIS to the region, and how advances by the group in Iraq and Syria will require a regional response.

"The King also warned against the vacuum caused by the stalled negotiations on the final status issues which are based on the two-state solution," the Jordanian government described.

Israel and Jordan enjoy normalized diplomatic relations.

*Jerusalem Post