Middle East & North Africa

02 Feb 2023; MEMO: South Korea has conveyed its preliminary proposal to Turkiye for constructing a major nuclear power plant in Turkiye, local Turkish media reports.

According to the report, Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) presented the proposal regarding the construction of four reactors capable of providing 1,400 megawatts (MW) of electricity in the northern province of Sinop.

The project is forecast to be worth about 40 trillion won ($32.55 billion).

02 Feb 2023; MEMO: Human Rights Watch (HRW) said, Thursday, the Israeli authorities' measures to seal the homes of two Palestinians suspected of attacks against Israelis "amount to collective punishment", and is a "war crime".

03 Feb 2023; MEMO: Turkiye summoned ambassadors of nine Western countries, including the United States and Sweden, on Thursday to criticise their decision to temporarily shut diplomatic missions and issue security alerts following Quran-burning incidents in Europe, Reuters reported.

The envoys of Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Britain were also summoned, according to Foreign Ministry sources in Ankara.

03 Feb 2023; MEMO: Hamas yesterday strongly condemned the storming of the Prison of Christ Chapel and the acts of vandalism by a group of Zionist settlers in occupied Jerusalem's Old City.

In a press release Hamas described the settlers' attack on the church as a "fascist and racist demeanour that contradicts international law and religious values."

03 Feb 2023; MEMO: Female palestinian prisoners being held by Israel in the Damon Prison have recently been sprayed with tear gas and pepper spray, while some have been tortured or placed in isolation as a result of their protests against the treatment they are receiving at the hands of prison authorities.

03 Feb 2023; MEMO: Palestinian resistance groups have fired missiles from the besieged Gaza Strip at nearby Israeli settlements in retaliation for the Israeli army escalations in the occupied West Bank, especially attacks on female prisoners.

03 Feb 2023; MEMO: The Israeli government is mulling its policy towards the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the possibility of providing Ukraine with defence systems, the Israeli website Walla reported, citing three senior Israeli officials.

Israel is under pressure from the Biden administration and Democratic and Republican Congressmen, as well as from other Western governments to provide military aid, such as missile defence systems, to Ukraine.

CAIRO, Feb 2 (NNN-MENA) – At least three people were killed and 32 others wounded, in a fire that broke out yesterday, at a charitable hospital in the capital, Cairo, said the Egyptian Health Ministry in a statement.

The accident took place at the radiology department of the hospital, located in the El Matareya district, and 12 ambulances were sent to the scene, according to the ministry’s spokesman, Hossam Abdel-Ghaffar.

The injured suffered from burns, fractures or suffocation, and most of them have been taken to nearby hospitals, said Abdel-Ghaffar.

RAMALLAH, Feb 2 (NNN-WAFA) – Palestinian Prime Minister, Mohammed Ishtaye, yesterday, warned that, the unilateral measures of the Israeli government against the Palestinians, would be “catastrophic” for the region.

An official statement said that, Ishtaye made the warning during a meeting held in the West Bank city of Ramallah, with head of the German Social Democratic Party, Lars Klingbeil.

TEL AVIV, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Israeli armed drones use gravity bombs that produce no noise or smoke as they fall, making them hard for enemies to anticipate or evade, and the largest model of the aircraft can carry up to a tonne of munitions, its military says.

After more than two decades of secrecy, Israel in July went public about its pioneering armed drones developed as part of an array of stand-off surveillance and striking options since it was blindsided by tank incursions during a 1973 war.