Category: General

Doha: Qatar Wednesday condemned Israel’s bombing of the Rafah municipality and taking over the land crossing and the threat to displace Gazans.

According to a statement, Doha called for urgent international action to prevent the invasion of the embattled city and the “commission of the crime of genocide” and to provide full protection for civilians.

The Qatari Foreign Ministry warned that forcefully displacing Palestinians out of the city, which has become a final refuge for hundreds of thousands inside the Gaza Strip, represents a “serious violation” of international laws and would double the worsening humanitarian crisis in the besieged enclave.

The Foreign Ministry reiterated Qatar’s support for justice for the Palestinian issue, the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Source: Jordan News Agency

National News Agency correspondent reported that Israeli enemy warplanes raided the southern Lebanese towns of Khiyam and Kfar Kila.

Source: National News Agency – Lebanon

Amman: A noticeable increase in temperatures is forecast over the coming days, according to the latest weather forecast from the Jordan Meteorological Department.

Today, Wednesday, is anticipated to see a rise in temperatures across the region. While the mountainous areas will experience mild weather, elsewhere conditions are expected to be warm. Winds will be light, blowing predominantly from the northwest to the northeast.

On Thursday, temperatures are forecast to climb even higher. Dry and warm weather is expected over the mountainous regions and plains, while the rest of the country will experience hot conditions. Some high clouds may appear at higher altitudes, and moderate winds blowing from the southeast may occasionally stir up dust, particularly in desert regions.

Friday will continue the trend of rising temperatures, surpassing normal averages by approximately 5-6 degrees Celsius. The weather is expected to remain dusty and relatively hot over the mountains and plains, with high clouds dotting th
e sky. Winds will maintain a moderate pace, predominantly blowing from the southeast to the southwest, occasionally causing dust disturbances.

The maximum and minimum temperatures for today in eastern Amman range between 25 – 17 degrees Celsius, while in western Amman, temperatures are expected to range between 23 – 15 degrees Celsius. In the northern highlands, temperatures will vary from 21 – 14 degrees Celsius, while in the Sharah Mountains, temperatures will range from 22 – 12 degrees Celsius. Temperatures near the Dead Sea are expected to range from 33 – 22 degrees Celsius, and in the Gulf of Aqaba, temperatures will vary from 34 – 23 degrees Celsius.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Bethlehem – Ma’an – From yesterday evening until Wednesday morning, the occupation forces launched a massive arrest campaign, targeting at least 30 citizens from the West Bank, including a woman and former prisoners.

The Prisoners’ and Ex-Prisoners’ Affairs Authority and the Prisoners’ Club explained that the arrests were concentrated in the governorates of Hebron, Bethlehem, and Nablus, while the rest of the arrests were distributed among the governorates of Ramallah, Tulkarm, Jenin, and Jerusalem.

In addition, the occupation continues to carry out widespread raids and harassment, accompanied by severe beatings and threats against detainees and their families, in addition to sabotage and destruction of citizens’ homes, and confiscation of money and vehicles.

It is noteworthy that the occupation has rearrested a group of prisoners who were recently released, including administrative detainees.

Thus, the total number of arrests since the start of the aggression on the Gaza Strip on October 7 last year has
risen to about 8,640, and this total includes those who were arrested from homes, through military checkpoints, those who were forced to surrender themselves under pressure, and those who were held hostage.

It is noteworthy that the occupation continues to carry out arrest campaigns in the West Bank, which are accompanied by systematic abuse and torture against detainees and their families, in an unprecedented manner, and the occupation did not exclude the sick, wounded, and the elderly during the arrest campaigns.

It is noteworthy that the data related to arrest cases includes those who were kept in detention by the occupation and those who were later released.

Source: Maan News Agency

Amman: Jordanian German talks on development cooperation for 2024 through 2025 concluded in Berlin Tuesday with the participation of the Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Zeina Touqan, the Minister of Water and Irrigation, Raed Abu Al-Saud and experts.

The German Federal Minister of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Svenja Schulz, chaired the talks with the participation of the State Secretary of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Jochen Flasbarth, and officials from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Foreign Ministry, the Reconstruction Bank and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ).

According to a statement issued Wednesday, Touqan and Schulz signed the minutes of the official talks to earmark a pound 619 million package to Jordan in grants and soft loans for 2024 through 2025.

The German aid package will finance priorities within the executive programme of Jordan’s moder
nisation vision. The aid includes about pound 269 million in grants and pound 350 million in soft loans for employment, water and sanitation, public sector modernisation, vocational training, technical education, private sector development and support for economic reforms.

According to the statement, Touqan discussed the “importance” of holding the talks for Jordan, which provides the opportunity to discuss the progress of work in the existing German development cooperation programmes in Jordan and determine the priorities that the two sides will work on in the next stage within the framework of the various modernisation paths.

Source: Jordan News Agency

Ramallah – Ma’an – The Palestinian Monetary Authority announced today, Wednesday, the launch of the instant payments and transfers system between banks and payment service companies (i.e. Buraq) to help citizens in the Gaza Strip pay their obligations and carry out their financial transactions by electronic means, in light of the departure of most bank branches and ATMs. In the sector out of service, acute shortage of cash. Implementing instant transfers will be free for both parties of the relationship, so that the sender and the beneficiary will not bear any costs.

The launch of this system comes within the Monetary Authority’s strategy for digital transformation, while the Monetary Authority decided to advance the date of its launch in the Gaza Strip, at a time when it is not possible to perform traditional banking operations, especially (withdrawals and deposits) throughout the Strip, and to facilitate procedures for disbursing salaries to employees of international organizations and employees of the pub
lic sectors. And the urgent need created by the war conditions to provide alternatives to dealing in cash, knowing that most bank branches were bombed and partially or completely destroyed.

The new system settles and executes payments and internal financial transfers between banks and payment service companies subject to the supervision of the Monetary Authority, instantly, around the clock, and in the currency of the shekel at this stage, so that the amounts are allocated to the beneficiary’s account instantaneously and immediately, which will enable employees and customers to carry out their financial transactions electronically. It will alleviate the severe crisis resulting from the lack of liquidity in the Gaza Strip.

The Monetary Authority calls on male and female citizens in the Gaza Strip to install the electronic banking applications they deal with, and the electronic wallets of payment service companies on their smartphones, and to review the new electronic services through which payment and transf
er transactions will be carried out using this system. The Monetary Authority has asked the banks Companies will strengthen telephone information centers to help citizens prepare to benefit from the new system. It also coordinated with Internet providing companies to provide their services in sales centers and gatherings of citizens and displaced people, to help them use new technologies in carrying out their transactions and meeting their needs.

In addition to launching the instant payment system, the Monetary Authority is working to enhance the use of electronic payment methods to compensate for the lack of cash liquidity, including facilitating transfer procedures between bank accounts and electronic wallets at payment service companies and vice versa, and encouraging them to expand the network of merchants and agents to enable them to use electronic means of payment. In addition to encouraging banks, payment service companies, and merchants to implement payment services using plastic cards through point-
of-sale machines and banking applications using the QR feature.

The Monetary Authority would also like to announce to citizens in the Gaza Strip that it has made the necessary coordination with telecommunications service providers to implement payments and transfers in the event of the unavailability of the Internet using SMS and USSD mobile communications systems, so that correspondence can be conducted with banks and payment service companies to implement transfers.

Source: Maan News Agency