Day: 1 October 2024

Jerusalem – Ma’an – The occupation authorities imposed a series of measures on the entry of worshipers into the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, a short while ago, under the pretext of “instructions of the Home Front Command/during the emergency period (war).”

A source from the Islamic Waqf Department told Ma’an that the police informed the Waqf of a series of measures in Al-Aqsa “according to the instructions of the Home Front”, which are: limiting the number of worshipers; only 600 worshipers will be allowed to pray in Al-Aqsa “distributing their locations”, specifying the places of prayer “roofed mosques” and preventing prayer in the courtyards, and opening a specific number of doors, which are “Hatta, Silsilah, and Majlis”, while the doors of “Al-Asbat, King Faisal, Al-Ghawanmeh, and Al-Hadid” are closed.

The source added to Ma’an that the police did not specify the duration of these measures, and said that they were in accordance with the instructions and updates of the Home Front Command.

The Home Front Comma
nd announced a short while ago new measures in Jerusalem, preventing gatherings of more than 30 people in open spaces and 300 in closed spaces, and reducing activities and gatherings.

Source: Maan News Agency

Dockworkers on the US East Coast and Gulf Coast began a strike early on Tuesday, halting the flow of about half the nation’s ocean shipping after negotiations for a new labor contract broke down over wages.

The strike, which affects 36 ports, blocks everything from food to automobile shipments across dozens of ports from Maine to Texas, amid concerns that this will cost the economy billions of dollars a day, threaten jobs, and stoke inflation.

The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) union representing 45,000 port workers had been negotiating with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) employer group for a new six-year contract ahead of a midnight Sept. 30 deadline.

The strike, the ILA’s first since 1977, is worrying businesses across the economy that rely on ocean shipping to export their wares or secure crucial imports.

Source: Qatar News Agency

HEBRON-Ma’an- The occupation authorities demolished a house inhabited by residents in the village of At-Tuwana, east of Yatta, south of the city of Hebron, on Tuesday morning.

The coordinator of the Protection and Steadfastness Committees in the South Hebron Mountains, Fouad Al-Amur, reported that an occupation army force, accompanied by a bulldozer, stormed the village and demolished the house of citizen Khaled Rabie, which was built of bricks and tin and in which he lived with his family members.

Source: Maan News Agency

An earthquake measuring 5.3 on the Richter scale struck the North Sumatra Province in Indonesia on Tuesday.

The Indonesian Agency for Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysics (BMKG) said that the epicenter of the earthquake occurred 61 kilometers south of Padang Sidimpuan at a depth of 108 kilometers.

So far, there have been no reports of material damage or human losses as a result of the earthquake.

Indonesia is regularly exposed to earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire where many tectonic plates meet and cause frequent volcanic and seismic activity.

In 2004, an earthquake of 9.1 magnitude struck off the Indonesian island of Sumatra, causing a tsunami that killed 220,000 people.

Source: Qatar News Agency

Ramallah – Ma’an – The Israeli occupation forces continued their raids on the town of Kafr Ni’ma, west of Ramallah, since dawn on Tuesday, carrying out a wide-scale arrest campaign and field investigations.

Raafat Khalifa, head of the Kafr Ni’ma village council, said that the occupation forces stormed the town at dawn today and carried out wide-scale raids on homes, turning some of them into military barracks and preventing citizens from moving in the town, which led to the closure of schools.

Khalifa added that the occupation forces arrested about 20 citizens, most of whom were released prisoners from days and weeks ago, and carried out field investigations without sufficient information due to the restrictions on movement within the town during the raid, which is still ongoing.

Source: Maan News Agency

Israeli occupation forces on Tuesday arrested 16 Palestinians from Ramallah, Al-Bireh and Hebron governorates in the West Bank.

A large force of Israeli occupation troops stormed Al-Dhahr and Shaab Al-Sir neighborhoods in Hebron, detaining several Palestinians, the Palestinian News Agency (WAFA) said.

Additionally, the occupation forces raided the town of Idhna west of Hebron, fired sound bombs, and arrested one Palestinian.

Since the beginning of its unprecedented aggression against the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, the Israeli occupation has intensified its arrest campaigns in the West Bank, with the number of detainees now exceeding 10,200 Palestinians.

Source: Qatar News Agency

Bethlehem – Ma’an – The Ministry of Education announced that school hours tomorrow, Wednesday, will be a remote mission day in the directorates of the Hebron, Jericho, Bethlehem, Jerusalem and the suburbs of Jerusalem governorates, and normal hours in the rest of the governorates.

The Jerusalem Governorate announced this evening the suspension of in-person classes tomorrow, Wednesday, in all schools, universities and nurseries in the governorate, due to the current circumstances.

The governorate explained that education in all educational institutions will be remote, via electronic education methods, and any new decisions in this regard will be announced later.

An-Najah University, Nablus University for Vocational and Technical Education, Birzeit University, Khadouri University, Hebron University, Palestine Ahliya University, Bethlehem University, and Dar Al-Kalima University announced that attendance will be electronic tomorrow, Wednesday, to ensure the safety of students.

Source: Maan News Agency

Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) Philippe Lazzarini said that after almost a year, the war on Gaza has become an “endless nightmare,” adding that the Strip has become unlivable.

Lazzarini affirmed at a press conference in Geneva that the people of Gaza are facing disease, death, and hunger, with mountains of garbage and sewage filling the streets, and are now trapped in 10 percent of the land after being in a state of constant movement in search of safety that they never found.

The UNRWA Commissioner-General highlighted the plight of children, who represent half of Gaza’s population, as they bear the brunt of the war, going through a profound, ongoing, painful experience, and losing hope for a better future.

Lazzarini explained that a silent tragedy is unfolding in the West Bank, where security operations have led to widespread destruction of public infrastructure, de facto imposing collective punishment on the population.

The Commissioner-G
eneral also raised during his meetings with Member States in New York and Geneva the continuing attack on the Agency, noting that 223 UNRWA staff members have been killed so far and two-thirds of its facilities in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed.

He said that only UNRWA can provide education on a large scale to hundreds of thousands of girls and boys in the Gaza Strip, pointing out that UNRWA still suffers from a huge funding deficit.

Source: Qatar News Agency