Middle East & North Africa

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Wildfires raging across Algeria have killed 25 people, including 10 soldiers trying to get the flames under control in the face of high winds and scorching summer temperatures, government ministries said Monday.

At least 1,500 people were evacuated, the Interior Ministry said, without providing details.

The Interior Ministry announced 15 deaths and 24 injuries. In addition, the Defense Ministry later announced 10 soldiers were killed and 25 injured as they fought fires in the resort area of Beni Ksila east of the capital Algiers.

NABLUS, West Bank (AP) — The Israeli military said it shot and killed three alleged Palestinian gunmen in the northern occupied West Bank on Tuesday, the latest bloodshed in one of the most violent stretches of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in years.

24 July 2023; MEMO: If Israel's Mossad intelligence agency is behind the burning of the Quran, then there needs to be "strong popular and official positions" to stand against it, the Secretary-General of the Lebanese Hezbollah group, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, has said.

24 July 2023; MEMO: A Washington Post columnist warned on Sunday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the "biggest security threat" facing Israel.

24 July 2023; MEMO: The faculty members of four Israeli universities yesterday announced a strike to protest the Israeli government's plan to pass the controversial judicial overhaul plan, Israeli Walla news site reported.

24 July 2023; MEMO: The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates yesterday called on all countries to put settler organisations and their members on their terror lists, prosecute them, and prevent them from entering their lands.

24 July 2023; MEMO: The Moroccan Unification and Reform movement, the advocacy wing of the opposition Justice and Development Party, renewed yesterday its rejection of normalisation with Israel. "This is a path that might turn Morocco into an arena for regional and international conflicts and Israeli infiltration, in a manner threatening security and stability in the region," it explained.

Advocacy group Amnesty International said today that the Tunisian President Kais Saied's two-year-long power grab has "dramatically undermined" human rights in the country.

24 July 2023; MEMO: The Sudan Doctors' Union said yesterday that 70 per cent of hospitals are not operational in the areas where fighting is taking place between the army and the Rapid Support Forces. The union pointed out that there are "62 hospitals suspended from service, and 27 hospitals fully or partially working" in the capital Khartoum and other cities.

24 July 2023; MEMO: Israeli President Isaac Herzog, who has called for a compromise on judicial reform legislation, said today that the country "is in a state of national emergency."

"We are working around the clock, in every possible way, to find a solution. The infrastructure for a possible understanding exists, yet gaps remain that require the various parties to show responsibility," the president said.