Day: 9 March 2024

Gaza: Israeli occupation committed 10 massacres against Gaza families, claiming 82 Palestinians and 122 injuries during the past 24 hours, Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip said.

In the daily report on causalities by the ongoing Israeli aggression in its 155th consecutive day on Gaza, the ministry said a number of victims are still under rubble and on roads, as the occupation bars ambulance and civil defense crews from reaching victims.

To date, Gaza death toll by Israeli aggression rose to 30,960 martyrs and 72,524 injuries since last October 7 and 72% of the victims were children and women.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Amman: Standard and Poor’s (SandP), the sovereign credit rating agency, has reaffirmed Jordan’s B+/B credit rating with a stable outlook, underscoring the nation’s resilience amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza and broader regional geopolitical tensions.

SandP commended Jordan for its effective implementation of fiscal and monetary structural reforms, designed to spur growth and reduce national debt.

These reforms, focusing on enhancing tax compliance, revitalizing investment, and improving the ease of doing business, are expected to position Jordan on a sustainable path of economic activity and a gradual debt reduction to 78.9% of GDP by 2027.

The rating agency also noted Jordan’s “adequate domestic policy buffers” as a key factor in mitigating the impact of regional conflicts on tourism and the wider economy.

The approval of a new International Monetary Fund (IMF) lending program on January 10 was highlighted as a significant factor in maintaining the stable rating, along with Jordan’s strong relations wi
th donors and multilateral institutions.

These elements collectively differentiate Jordan from other regional countries facing downgrades due to the instability’s potential ramifications and transmission risks.

Finance Minister Mohamad Al-Ississ responded to the rating’s outlook by emphasizing the government’s commitment to macrofiscal stability through prudent fiscal policies, which prioritize the protection of the middle class’s standard of living despite regional unrest.

“This affirmation demonstrates an additional testament confirming the success of the government’s prudent fiscal policies taken to defend Jordan’s macrofiscal stability,” Al-Ississ stated.

Governor of the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ), Adel Al-Sharkas, attributed the credit rating affirmation and stable economic outlook to Jordan’s enduring economic stability, achieved even in the face of unfavorable geopolitical and economic conditions globally.

Al-Sharkas highlighted the CBJ’s success in maintaining monetary stability, safeguarding t
he currency peg with high reserves totaling $18.1 billion, and achieving the lowest dollarization rate since 2016 at 17.7%.

He also pointed to Jordan’s adequate inflation levels, which stood at 2.1% in 2023 and decreased to 2.0% in January 2024, and the financial system’s robust risk management capabilities.

This reaffirmation from SandP reflects confidence in Jordan’s strategic economic policies and its ability to navigate through regional and global challenges, maintaining its trajectory towards fiscal stability and economic growth.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Amman: Lower House Speaker Ahmad Safadi said Saturday that Jordan is keen to offer all support for Iraq’s security and stability and reconstruction in the country, stressing the need to further cement the already deep relations between the two countries in various fields.

Welcoming President of the Federal Supreme Court of Iraq Jassim Abboud and court members, Safadi stressed the need to implement signed bilateral agreements and tripartite accords with Egypt toward achieving economic integration.

Iraq’s security and stability is a key pillar of regional security and stability, he said, stressing Jordan’s support of efforts to restore Iraq’s leading Arab and regional role and enhance cooperation in the judicial field.

For his part, the head of the Iraqi Federal Supreme Court said his country highly valued Jordan’s support of his country, noting the Kingdom’s moderate approach to enhance regional security and stability.

He said the Federal Court in Iraq seeks cooperation with constitutional courts in the re
gion, including Jordan, to promote constitutional values and build judicial relations for the service of peoples to promote human, ethical and social values.

The President of the Federal Supreme Court in Iraq is visiting at the invitation of the Jordanian Constitutional Court, during which he signed a memorandum of understanding in the judicial field.

Source: Jordan News Agency

GAZA: At least three Palestinians were killed and others sustained injuries this evening following an aerial Israeli bombardment targeting a house in the town of Al-Qarara, located east of Khan Yunis in the south of the Gaza Strip, according to medical sources.

The sources confirmed the murder of three citizens and the injury of several others after an Israeli airstrike targeted a residence in the town, located in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.

Meantime, the Israeli occupation military destroyed multiple residential buildings in the Hamad City, northwest of Khan Yunis

In central Gaza, reports said that a number of civilians, predominantly children, were wounded in Israeli airstrikes in the Al-Qaran area west of the city of Deir al-Balah.

The ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip has so far resulted in over 30,960 reported fatalities, most of whom are children and women, with an additional 72,524 documented injuries, according to the Ministry of Health.

This toll remains provisional as thousa
nds of victims are feared dead under rubble or left in the streets, with Israeli forces hindering access for ambulance and civil defense crews.

Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA

Amman: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates on Saturday voiced support for the United Nations Security Council’s resolution demanding a ceasefire in Sudan during the holy month of Ramadan, highlighting hopes for an end to months of conflict in the Arab nation.

Sufyan Qudah, the ministry’s spokesperson, said the resolution, which won the backing of a majority of the Security Council’s members, could mark the start of efforts to resolve the crisis in Sudan.

“The ministry views the advent of Ramadan as an opportune moment for all parties to commit to a ceasefire and commence a comprehensive national dialogue,” Qudah stated, emphasizing the dialogue should prioritize Sudan’s national interest and aim to preserve its sovereignty and territorial integrity while protecting the lives of its citizens.

Source: Jordan News Agency

GAZA: Scores of civilians sustained various injuries today in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a residential tower in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.

Medical sources reported that occupation fighter jets targeted the Al-Masry residential tower, in the center of Rafah, wounding a number of citizens.

Furthermore, Israeli warplanes also carried out intense airstrikes that targeted the eastern and western areas of the city of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, causing injuries among civilians.

The occupation aircraft also launched multiple raids on the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City, resulting in casualties and severe injuries to several Palestinian citizens.

The ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip has so far resulted in over 30,800 reported fatalities, most of whom are children and women, with an additional 72,208 documented injuries, according to the Ministry of Health.

Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA

Abu Dhabi: The United Arab Emirates has welcomed the UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Sudan during the month of Ramadan, amid the continued deterioration of the humanitarian situation.

In a statement on Saturday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its hope that this step will contribute to paving the way for ending the crisis between the Sudanese parties, sparing the Sudanese people further suffering, and facilitating the delivery of relief and humanitarian aid to the affected areas, especially the most vulnerable groups of patients, children, the elderly and women.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirmed its support for all efforts leading to de-escalation, ceasefire and the start of political dialogue, to achieve everything that serves the interests of the Sudanese people, leads to the restoration of peace, security and safety, and achieves the aspirations of the Sudanese people for stability and prosperity.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Doha: Qatari markets have recently begun to witness an “increasing” demand for Jordanian food and consumer goods and products, ahead of the holy month of Ramadan.

In statements to “Petra” Saturday, Qatari merchants and importers said this phenomenon happens every year during Ramadan and the days preceding the holy month, adding the country witnesses this “large and unusual” demand for various types and varieties of goods and food products imported from Jordan.

The traders added that this demand is normal for consumers, who are keen to choose high-quality products that reflect cultural diversity, which is the case for Jordanian food products.

Source: Jordan News Agency

RAMALLAH: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates today said that the Israeli far right and its colonists daily challenge the international will for peace, calling on the international community to translate the two-state solution from consensus into action.

The Ministry highlighted that they (Israeli far right and its colonists) are racing against time in their attempts to change the existing historical, political and legal reality in the West Bank to put obstacles to the establishment of an independent, viable, geographically contiguous and sovereign Palestinian state.

The Foreign Ministry, in a statement, called for translating the international and American positions and implementing the two-state solution into practical steps and taking real measures that would ensure its implementation on the ground.

The Ministry affirmed the necessity of accelerating the recognition of the State of Palestine, enabling it to obtain full membership in the United Nations, and exerting real pressure on the occup
ying state to restrain the colonists.

“Imposing deterrent international sanctions on the entire colonial system plays a role in fortifying the opportunity for a political solution to the conflict and not wasting it, and provides the protection required for the two-state solution, in order to achieve security and stability in the region and the world,” the Ministry added.

It also strongly condemned the colonists’ violations and crimes against the Palestinian people and their proprieties, the latest of which was the military incursion of Bab al-Rahma cemetery, where they vandalized graves and their headstones. The Ministry also denounced the daily attacks of colonists on civilians and their homes in Masafer Yatta with the aim of displacing them from their lands.

Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA

GAZA: Dozens of civilians, the majority of whom are children and women, were killed and others injured in a series of Israeli airstrikes that targeted multiple areas across the Gaza Strip.

Medical sources said that at least six civilians were in Israeli artillery shelling of several homes in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City.

Three children were also killed inside Al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City due to malnutrition and starvation, which raises Palestinian death toll from hunger in Gaza since the start of the aggression to 23.

In Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip, nine Palestinian citizens, mostly children, were killed in artillery shelling that targeted citizens’ homes.

Furthermore, five civilians were killed in an artillery shelling that targeted the city of Deir al-Balah and the outskirts of the Nuseirat camp, in the central Gaza Strip, and they were transferred to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

In Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip, from last night until dawn today, 23 people, including childr
en and women, were killed in intense airstrikes that targeted a number of citizens’ homes.

Simultaneously, at least 20 people were wounded when the occupation forces and military tanks struck a group of civilians who were waiting for aid at the Kuwait Roundabout in the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza.

The ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip has so far resulted in over 30,800 reported fatalities, most of whom are children and women, with an additional 72,208 documented injuries, according to the Ministry of Health.

Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA

HEBRON: The Israeli occupation forces today seized an agricultural tractor and chased Palestinian farmers and shepherds out of their pasture in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron, according to local and security sources.

They said that Israeli forces seized an agricultural tractor carrying seven farmers while they were reclaiming their farmland in Masafer Yatta and held them for several hours.

Meanwhile, a group of Israeli colonists further released their sheep into large areas of Palestinian agricultural crops near the village of Al-Fakhit, chased after the herders and farmers and prevented them from entering their lands and grazing their cattle.

There is a surge in colonists and occupation forces attacks against Palestinians and their proprieties in Masafer Yatta, including seizing large tracts of pastoral areas and chasing shepherds.

Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA

JERUSALEM: Colonists today destroyed tombstones in the Bab al-Rahma cemetery, adjacent to al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, according to security sources.

They said that a group of Israeli colonists destroyed a number of tombstones of at least 10 graves and vandalized some of the contents of the cemetery.

The witnesses added that the colonists are constantly storming the cemetery and performing Talmudic rituals with the aim of seizing it. The cemetery is also subjected to excavations by the occupation for the benefit of establishing a base for the Judaization cable car surrounding the old city there.

The area of Bab al-Rahma cemetery is about 23 dunums and it contains many graves of the Companions.

The occupation government also intends to convert part of the cemetery into a biblical garden as part of its project to Judaize the city.

Source: Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA