Day: 8 August 2023

Palestinians condemned yesterday, the killings of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank.

At least four Palestinians were killed within the last 24 hours, including a Palestinian teenager, who succumbed to the wounds inflicted by an Israeli guard in the West Bank last week, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

On Sunday, an Israeli army unit carried out an attack on a car near the village of Araba, located in the southern part of the West Bank city of Jenin, resulting in the death of three Palestinians inside the vehicle. The Israeli authorities said that, the three individuals were believed to be on their way to carry out a hostile attack against Israel.

Palestinian Prime Minister, Mohamed Ishtaye, said during a cabinet meeting that, “the Israeli occupation, which persists in killing our children daily, must be brought to justice,” according to an official statement.

Speaker of the Palestinian National Council, Rawhi Fattouh, also condemned the killings and called on the international community “to intervene urgently and decisively to put an end to the madness.”

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry condemned “the escalation of Israeli crimes against the Palestinians” in a press statement, and stressed that, “the absence of the international will for peace” exacerbates the situation in Palestinian territories.

In Gaza, the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) said in a statement that, the Palestinian people “will confront what is happening with all strength and valour and will respond firmly to crimes and transgression.”

Since Jan, 27 people, most of them Israelis, have been killed in a series of attacks carried out by Palestinians.

However, more than 200 Palestinians have been killed, during the same period, by Israeli soldiers and settlers, according to official figures.

Source: Nam News Network

The Department of Antiquities and the American Center of Research (ACOR) signed three agreements to restore heritage sites.

According to a statement by the department on Tuesday, the Director General of the Department of Antiquities Fadi Balawi and ACOR’s Director Pearce Paul Creasman.

The three agreements aim to restore and complete heritage works in the Byzantine Church in Aqaba and in the Karak Castle and its surrounding towers, in addition to the Beit Ras Amphitheater under an outlined plan. A committee will be formed to follow up on the progress of work and facilitate procedures related to the projects, including the issuance of licenses and approvals.

Balawi underscored the department’s responsibility in implementing, monitoring and coordinating projects and providing all possible means of cooperation, indicating the importance of such projects in protecting the cultural heritage of many archaeological sites.

For his part, Creasman expressed his happiness in cooperating with the Department of Antiquities, stressing his commitment to beginning working on these projects that aim to preserve the cultural heritage in archaeological sites.

Source: Jordan News Agency

The European Union (EU) will next month launch a regional cooperation program for the Mediterranean with a budget of 234 million euros to support new projects across different sectors, said Eastern Mediterranean Office Coordinator for the EU’s Cross-Border Cooperation (CBC) Esmat Karadsheh.

During a round table held by the Jordan Society for Scientific Research on Tuesday, Karadsheh said that the CBC initiative is collaborating with 13 countries to fund joint projects.

Currently, the program is supporting a total of 80 projects, of which 56 are located in Jordan and worth 23.5 million euros, covering a range of areas, including environmental issues and efforts to combat climate change, he added.

Source: Jordan News Agency

The US-Saudi-Emirati aggression launched dozens of raids on various provinces, targeting citizens, property, and infrastructure, killing and injuring people, including women and children.

On August 8, 2015, the aggression warpalnes waged raids on Ibb city, killing two citizens and injuring two others in a internationally prohibited weapons were used.

The aggression warplanes launched more than 12 raids on separate areas in Sa’ada province, targeting seven houses Dahyan and Rahban areas, causing complete destruction of the houses and damage to other nearby houses.

The aggression warplanes launched six raids on Maran area in Sa’ada, destroying a citizen’s house and damaging to neighboring houses. The aggression warplanes waged a raid on Ghammar area in Razih district in Sa’ada.

In 2016, 30 citizens were killed and injured in raids by the aggression’s warplanes on a popular market and the homes of citizens in the village of al-Athari in Nehm district in Sana’a province.

Thirteen citizens were injured in aggression’s air raids in Hodeida city, one of which targeted the eastern gate of the port of Hodeida, causing damage to public property.

A man and a woman were injured by Saudi missile strikes on lower Dhuwaib area in Haydan district in Sa’ada province, while the warplanes launched two raids on Mandaba area in the border district of Baqim, and two raids on al-Mabrak area in Sheda district, causing great damage to the property and farms of citizens.

The warplanes also launched two raids on al-Kharashab areas in Ketaf and al-Shalfa districts in Haidan district, and a raid on the public road in Maran area in Sa’ada province. The aggression warplanes hit al-Sama’ site with a raid, al-Zamah area in Baqim district with four raids.The aggression warpalnes retargeted Ketaf district with four raids.

The aggression warplanes launched a raid on al-Majaza area in al-Rabu’ah city in Asir region and five raids on Ghareb Siddiq, north of al-Dud, and a raid on the old renovation in al-Khuba area Jizan region.

The aggression warplanes targeted Taiz province with 36 raids, including two raids on Taiz airport, eight raids on al-Jand area, ten raids on Mocha junction, and four raids on the new veterinary quarry on Mokha road, which caused significant damage to its facilities, and the destruction of the oil derivatives station close to it.

The aggression warplanes targeted al-Hameli bridge, Warzan area, and al-Hameli school in five raids in the coastal Mawza district, which led to significant damage to the buildings and roads linking the western coastal districts in the province, while seven raids targeted al-Omari area in the coastal city of Dhubab.

In Sana’a province, the aggression warplanes launched more than 18 raids on Freija area in Arhab district of Sana’a province, which caused damage to agricultural lands, and targeted al-Subaha area in Bani Matar district, causing severe damage to citizens’ homes and properties, and also launched 21 raids on Bait Dahra, and four raids on the areas of al Madfoun and Melh in the district, and a raid on Othar area in Nihm district.

The aggression warplanes launched two raids on al-Saqiya area in al-Maslub district in Jawf province, three raids on Harf Sufyan district in Amran province, and six raids on the city of Amran.

Separate areas in Serwah district in Marib governorate were subjected to missile and artillery shelling by the mercenaries.

On August 8, 2017, a citizen was killed and five others, including four children, were wounded when the aggression’s mercenaries bombed residential areas near al-Ghail and soap factory in Taiz province

Source: Yemen News Agency

Dozens of fanatic Israeli settlers Tuesday morning broke into the compounds of al-Aqsa Mosque under heavy protection from the Israeli police.

The extremist settlers, divded into groups, raided the holy Islamic Mosque from al-Maghariba gate and took provocative tours in its compounds.

It added that the settlers performed Talmudic rituals in the eastern part of the Mosque.

This comes at a time as Israeli forces intensify measures against Palestinians coming from Jerusalem to enter the Mosque, inspecting their IDs and briefly detaining them.

Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA

A special Israeli forces unit today kidnapped three Palestinians from the town Zababdeh, south of the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, according to local sources.

They told WAFA that a special Israeli force kidnapped two siblings, one of them is an ex-prisoner, after raiding and ransacking their homes.

Source: Palestine news & Information Agency

RAMALLAH: Israeli occupation forces detained since yesterday evening at least 25 Palestinians, including six women who were later released, from the occupied West Bank.

The Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) stated that the detention operations focused on occupied Jerusalem and Hebron. The remaining detentions took place in the governorates of Jenin, Tubas, Qalqilya and Bethlehem.

They also said Israeli forces detained 16 Palestinians as they were leaving the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied Jerusalem.

This brings the total number of Palestinians detained since October 7th to about 7895, including those who were detained from their homes, at military checkpoints, those who surrendered under pressure and those who were taken as hostages.

The Commission and PPS reported that the ongoing and escalating detention operations that began after October 7th, which targeted children, women, the elderly and the sick came as part of the comprehensive Israeli
occupation’s aggression against the Palestinian people and its ongoing genocidal war against the Gaza Strip.

Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA

Israeli occupation forces on Tuesday blew up house of a Palestinian martyr in Askar refugee camp east of Nablus city.

Secretary of the mainstream Palestinian group, Fatah, Nohammad Hamdan, said in a statement to KUNA that a large force of the occupation troops burst into the shanty town and sealed off the house of Abdulfattah Khroushe before blowing it up.

Simultaneously, the Israeli forces engaged in clashes with Palestinian activists who resisted the occupation troops with stones.

Palestinian Red Crescent Society said in a statement that its medics treated one Palestinian who was wounded with live bullets and three others who were hit with rubber-coated bullets. It added that 100 others had to be treated after suffering from suffocation caused by tear gas hurled by the occupation forces.

A spokesman of the occupation army said in a statement that Khroushe’s house was blown up because he had carried out a gunfire attack in Hawwara south of Nablus in February, killing two settlers.

The occupation authorities often demolish activists’ houses as part of a mass punitive policy against the Palestinian resistance.

Source: Kuwait News Agency

China on Tuesday urged again the Philippines to immediately tow away the military vessel “grounded” at Ren’ai Reef in the South China Sea and restore Ren’ai Reef to its original state of having no personnel or facility on it, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

On Monday, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs issued a statement saying that on August 5, in the waters adjacent to Ren’ai Reef, China Coast Guard “took blocking and other aggressive maneuvers, including the use of a water cannon” against Philippine supply boats and Coast Guard vessels on a routine resupply mission to the military vessel grounded at Ren’ai Reef.

The Philippines said such actions violate the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the 2016 South China Sea arbitration award and infringe upon the Philippines’ sovereign rights and jurisdiction.

When asked for comments, an unnamed spokesperson at the Foreign Ministry stressed that Ren’ai Reef is part of China’s Nansha Islands. “The Philippines explicitly promised several times to tow away the military vessel deliberately and illegally “grounded” at Ren’ai Jiao (Reef).

However, 24 years have passed and instead of towing it away, the Philippines has sought to repair and reinforce it on a large scale in order to permanently occupy Ren’ai Jiao,” the spokesperson said. “The Philippines’ action gravely violates international law and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea signed between China and ASEAN countries,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson also said that the so-called South China Sea arbitration award violates international law, including UNCLOS. “The award is illegal, null and void. China does not accept or recognize it, and will never accept any claim or action based on the award. This position is clear and firm, and is a legitimate step to uphold international rule of law.” China insists sovereignty over most of the resource-rich South China Sea, including the Nansha (Spratly) Islands that are also claimed by the Philippines, Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam.

Source: Kuwait News Agency