Amman - Jordan's King Abdullah II on Saturday issued a fresh appeal for a prompt action by the world community to force Israel to stop its offensive on the Gaza Strip, where he said the humanitarian situation had deteriorated drastically.

The monarch made the remarks during a telephone conversation with the envoy of the so-called Middle East Quartet Tony Blair, according to a royal court statement.

"The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip has deteriorated to the point where the world community should drop its silence and move promptly to ensure a cessation of the Israeli aggression," King Abdullah told Blair.

Amman - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan held talks at the Red Sea resort of Aqaba Wednesday with Jordan's King Abdullah as part of regional tour aimed at ending the Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.

Abdullah urged the world community "to move immediately to stop the Israeli aggression which represents a flagrant violation of humanitarian, legal and ethical standards", the statement said.

Amman - Jordan's King Abdullah II held his second meeting in less than a week on Wednesday with the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to review the outcome of efforts exerted so far to try to stop further Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip.

The meeting at the Red Sea resort of Aqaba took place a few hours before the arrival of the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was due to hold separate talks with the two Arab leaders in the course of a regional tour.

Amman  - King Abdullah II of Jordan on Tuesday called US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and urged Washington to take "immediate steps" to stop the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, according to a royal court statement.

"The monarch stressed the need for taking immediate and effective steps to halt the aggression as soon as possible and re-open the crossing points to allow the entry of humanitarian and medical aid to the Gaza Strip," the statement said.

Amman - Jordan's King Abdullah II on Monday issued a decree appointing General Mohammad Rakkad as new head of the General Intelligence Department (GID), one of the country's most influential posts, according to a royal court statement.

Rakkad replaced General Mohammad Dahabi, who resigned his post earlier in the day, a royal court statement said.

Dahabi came to the limelight over the past couple of months after leading a Jordanian team to a series of meetings with member of Hamas' politburo Mohammad Nazal, who is based in Damascus.

Amman - Thousands of Jordanians demonstrated outside the Egyptian embassy in Cairo Sunday to press Egyptian authorities to re- open the Rafah crossing point with the Gaza Strip.

"Our sit-in before the Egyptian embassy today has the primary aim of telling the Egyptian regime ... that the Rafah crossing point should be re-opened," said Zaki Bani Ershaid, secretary general of the Islamic Action Front (IAF).

Other demonstrators urged the governments of Egypt and Jordan, the only two Arab countries to have concluded peace treaties with Israel, to "sever ties" with the Jewish state.