Jordanian PM visits British embassy to offer condolences on Queen Elizabeth’s passing

Jordanian PM Bisher Al-Khasawneh writes in a condolence book at the British embassy in Amman after the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. (Jordan News Agency)
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Updated 11 September 2022
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Jordanian PM visits British embassy to offer condolences on Queen Elizabeth’s passing

  • “The passing away of Queen Elizabeth II is a great loss not only for the UK and its people but also for the world,” Al-Khasawneh said

LONDON: Jordanian Prime Minister Bisher Al-Khasawneh and other officials visited the British embassy in Amman on Sunday to offer their condolences on the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.

Al-Khasawneh wrote in a condolence book at the embassy and expressed solidarity with the British people and government during this difficult time.

“The passing away of Queen Elizabeth II is a great loss not only for the UK and its people but also for the world,” Khasawneh said.

Queen Elizabeth’s coffin was taken from her summer home in the Scottish Highlands to Edinburgh on Sunday, past tens of thousands of mourners lining the route to pay tribute.

She died on Thursday after she spent 70 years on the throne.


Lebanon state media say ‘series’ of Israeli strikes hit south

Updated 2 sec ago
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Lebanon state media say ‘series’ of Israeli strikes hit south

BEIRUT: Lebanese official media said Israel conducted air strikes on the south on Thursday, the latest in a string of raids despite a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
The state-run National News Agency (NNA) said “a series of Israeli strikes” targeted the Nabatiyeh district around 12 kilometers (seven miles) from the border, while local media outlets said the raids hit mountainous regions away from residential areas.

Israel forces close UN schools in annexed east Jerusalem

Updated 56 min 54 sec ago
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Israel forces close UN schools in annexed east Jerusalem

  • 550 pupils aged six to 15 were present when the closure was enforced

JERUSALEM: The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said Thursday that Israel closed three of its schools in annexed east Jerusalem, months after an Israeli ban on its activities took effect.
An AFP photographer at the scene reported that a closure notice in Hebrew was left at the entrance of at least one of the schools, and UNRWA said at least one of its staff members was detained.
“From May 8, 2025, it will be prohibited to operate educational institutions, or employ teachers, teaching staff or any other staff, and it will be forbidden to accommodate students or allow the entry of students into this institution,” the closure order read.
UNRWA’s director in the West Bank, Roland Friedrich, told AFP that “heavily armed” forces surrounded three UNRWA schools in east Jerusalem’s Shuafat camp at 9:00 am on Thursday.
Friedrich added that 550 pupils aged six to 15 were present when the closure was enforced, calling the event “a traumatising experience for young children who are at immediate risk of losing their access to education.”
Friedrich said that police were being deployed at three separate schools in other parts of east Jerusalem.
The Palestinian Authority condemned the move in a statement to AFP, calling it “violation of children’s right to education.”
Israel claims all of Jerusalem as its “indivisible” capital, though the United Nations considers its annexation of the city’s eastern sector illegal.
The Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future independent state.


Fuel, aid shortages cripple Gaza emergency services and relief efforts amid Israeli blockade

Updated 21 min 23 sec ago
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Fuel, aid shortages cripple Gaza emergency services and relief efforts amid Israeli blockade

  • Gaza’s civil defense agency said that a lack of fuel had forced three-quarters of its emergency vehicles to stop operating
  • World Central Kitchen halted operations after running out of food, having served 133,000 meals and baked 80,000 loaves daily in recent weeks

GAZA CITY: Gaza’s worsening humanitarian crisis deepened Thursday as fuel shortages forced most civil defense vehicles off the roads and a major aid group shut down its soup kitchens amid Israel’s continued blockade on humanitarian supplies.

Gaza’s civil defense agency said Thursday that a lack of fuel had forced three-quarters of its emergency vehicles to stop operating, more than two months into an Israeli aid blockade.
“Seventy-five percent of our vehicles have stopped operating due to a lack of diesel fuel,” the agency’s spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP, adding that its first responders were also facing a “severe shortage of electric generators and oxygen devices.”

Meanwhile, Israel’s ongoing blockade of humanitarian assistance for Gaza forced a leading aid group on Thursday to shut its community soup kitchens, faced empty warehouses and no replenishment of supplies in the war-battered enclave.
World Central Kitchen was serving 133,000 meals per day and baking 80,000 loaves of bread over the past weeks, but said it was forced to suspend operations since there is almost no food left in Gaza for the organization to cook.
The lack of food is threatening Gaza’s population, already battered by 19 months of war. In April, the World Food Program said its food stocks in Gaza have run out under Israel’s blockade, ending a main source of sustenance for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the territory.
Malnutrition and hunger are becoming increasingly prevalent in the Gaza Strip as Israel’s total blockade enters its third month. Aid agencies say a shortage of food and supplies has driven the territory toward starvation and supplies to treat and prevent malnutrition are depleted and quickly running out.
Israel imposed the blockade on March 2, then shattered a two-month ceasefire by resuming military operations in the territory on March 18. It said both steps aim to pressure the militant Hamas group to release hostages the extremists still hold. Rights groups call the blockade a “starvation tactic” that endangers the entire population and a potential war crime.
Community kitchens such as the ones run by World Central Kitchen are a lifeline for hundreds of thousands for their daily meal, but many are shutting down due to lack of supplies.
At those still open, chaotic scenes of desperate men, women and children fighting to get meager rations are common. Bakeries have closed, while water distribution is grinding to a halt due to lack of fuel.
Since the start of the war, World Central Kitchen said it has served more than 130 million meals and baked 80 million loaves of bread. The organization also said on Thursday there was no flour left in their mobile bakery.
“Our trucks— loaded with food and supplies— are waiting in Egypt, Jordan and Israel, ready to enter Gaza,” said José Andrés, the celebrity chef who founded the organization. “But they cannot move without permission. Humanitarian aid must be allowed to flow.”
COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing aid to Gaza, said the blockade would continue unless the Israeli government changed its policy.
Since the start of the year, more than 10,000 children have been admitted or treated for acute malnutrition, according to the World Health Organization. The increase was particularly dramatic in March, with 3,600 cases — an 80 percent increase, compared to the 2,000 children in February, UNICEF reported.
Nearly half the 200 nutrition centers around Gaza have shut down because of displacement and bombardment.
World Central Kitchen had previously suspended operations in April of last year after seven aid workers were killed in Israeli strikes on their convoy, before resuming weeks later.


Israeli PM Netanyahu says 21 hostages alive, doubts over three others

Updated 08 May 2025
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Israeli PM Netanyahu says 21 hostages alive, doubts over three others

  • The fate of the hostages is a visceral issue for most Israelis and one that has caused increasing disquiet and division in Israeli society as the war has dragged on

JERUSALEM: Three Israeli hostages in Gaza previously thought to be living may be dead, leaving 21 definitely believed to be alive, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday, confirming comments made by US President Donald Trump.
Speaking at an event at the White House on Tuesday, Trump said 24 hostages were alive a week ago but the figure was now 21. He did not cite a source or provide further details.
Gal Hirsch, Israel’s coordinator for hostage issues, had said in a post on X that the Palestinian militant group Hamas was holding 59 hostages of whom 24 were alive and 35 dead — figures unchanged since before Trump spoke.
Netanyahu’s comments appeared to confirm the figure cited by Trump.
“We know for certain that 21 are alive — that’s not in dispute. There are three others where, unfortunately, it’s uncertain whether they’re alive,” Netanyahu said in filmed remarks posted on social media.
A spokesperson for a group representing hostage families said: “The headquarters again calls on the prime minister to stop the war until the return of the last abductee. This is the most urgent and important national task.”
The fate of the hostages is a visceral issue for most Israelis and one that has caused increasing disquiet and division in Israeli society as the war has dragged on. A total of 251 people were taken hostage during the Hamas attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed, according to Israeli tallies.
Most of the hostages returned alive to Israel so far were released as part of deals with Hamas during two temporary ceasefires in late 2023 and early 2025.
Since the abductions, Israel has responded with an air and ground assault on Gaza that has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health authorities there, and reduced much of the enclave to ruins.
The government says its two war aims are to destroy Hamas and release the hostages. This week it has announced an expansion of its offensive on Gaza, causing hostage families to fear this will further endanger their loved ones.


World Central Kitchen halts work in Gaza as supplies run out

Updated 07 May 2025
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World Central Kitchen halts work in Gaza as supplies run out

  • WCK said it would continue to support Palestinian families by distributing critically needed potable water where possible
  • Israel has faced growing international pressure to lift an aid blockade

CAIRO: The US-based World Central Kitchen charity has halted work in the Gaza Strip, saying on Wednesday it had run out of supplies and been prevented by Israel from bringing in aid.
“After serving more than 130 million total meals and 26 million loaves of bread over the past 18 months, World Central Kitchen no longer has the supplies to cook meals or bake bread in Gaza,” it said in a post on X.
The charity said it would continue to support Palestinian families by distributing critically needed potable water where possible, but vital food distribution cannot resume until Israel allows aid back into the enclave.


“WCK trucks loaded with food and cooking fuel have been ready at the Gaza border since early March. Additional food and equipment are ready to be shipped to the border from Jordan and Egypt,” said World Central Kitchen, which was founded by celebrity chef Jose Andres.
Israel has faced growing international pressure to lift an aid blockade that it imposed in March after the collapse of a US-backed ceasefire that had halted fighting for two months.
Israel has accused agencies, including the United Nations, of allowing large quantities of aid to fall into the hands of Hamas militants, who it accuses of seizing supplies intended for civilians and using them for their own forces. Hamas denies the allegation and accuses Israel of using starvation as a weapon against the population.
Growing lootings of community kitchens, stores of local merchants, and UN headquarters have prompted Hamas security forces to crack down on local gangs. Hamas executed at least six gang members last week, according to sources close to the group.
UN humanitarian agency OCHA has said more than 2 million people — most of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million — face severe food shortages.