Middle East & North Africa

29 March 2022; MEMO: A suspected Arab gunman killed at least five people in a Tel Aviv suburb on Tuesday before he was fatally shot, the national ambulance service said, in the latest of a string of deadly attacks in Israel.

Amateur video broadcast on Israeli television stations showed a man dressed in black and pointing an assault rifle walking down a street in Bnei Brak, a Jewish ultra-Orthodox city on the outskirts of Israel's commercial capital.

30 March 2022; MEMO: Israel is reinforcing its troops deployed at the nominal border fence with the besieged Gaza Strip ahead of the fasting month of Ramadan, Anadolu reported on Tuesday.

According to Israeli media, said Anadolu, the Israeli occupation army fears an escalation of tension today, Land Day, and the holy month which starts at the weekend. Israeli, American and Arab officials have been coordinating their efforts to avoid clashes during Ramadan, which this year coincides with major Jewish and Christian holidays.

29 March 2022; MEMO: Israeli Defence Minister, Benny Gantz, met Jordan's King Abdullah in Amman on Tuesday, in an apparent joint effort to lower Israeli-Palestinian tensions as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan approaches, Reuters reports.

Their talks focused on "regional and security challenges", an Israeli statement said.

The meeting followed a two-day summit in Israel attended by the Foreign Ministers of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Egypt and US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken.

30 March 2022; MEMO: Extremist Israeli settlers set up a new settlement outpost on Tuesday near the Bedouin community in Al-Muarrajat area between the occupied West Bank cities of Ramallah and Jericho, Wafa news agency has reported.

30 March 2022; MEMO: Israel's High Court of Justice ruled on Tuesday that Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton should give the prestigious Israel Prize to mathematician Professor Oded Goldreich, despite his support of an anti-occupation boycott.

30 March 2022; MEMO: The Cairo Criminal Court yesterday renewed the detention of two Al Jazeera Mubasher journalists. Hisham Abdelaziz and Bahaa El-Din Ibrahim will be held for an additional 45 days pending investigation.

30 March 2022; MEMO: The Iraqi government said on Tuesday that it is studying the possibility of suing Israel for compensation over its air strike against the Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Centre near Baghdad, Arab48.com has reported. Israeli fighter jets bombed the French-built, but unfinished, nuclear reactor on 7 June 1981.

30 March 2022; MEMO: Qatar has pledged to pump $5 billion into Egypt's investment markets in a boost to the ailing Egyptian economy, it was reported on Tuesday.

According to official mass media in both countries, their respective governments agreed to form a committee to coordinate investment plans. However, no timetable was provided for the formation of the committee or the investment process.

30 March 2022; MEMO: Egypt's Suez Canal Authority (SCA) yesterday raised its toll fees for vessels passing through the waterway due to the impact of Russia's war in Ukraine.

SCA chairman Osama Rabie told reporters that the increases will be imposed on "all types of ship" using the canal. The increases will amount to between 5 and 20 per cent. "Traffic through the canal has been affected by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict," he explained.

Sudanese protesters, on Tuesday, blocked main roads in the capital, Khartoum, amid fresh demonstrations demanding full civilian rule, Anadolu News Agency reports.

"Khartoum witnessed an almost complete closure of roads with cement barriers, tree trunks and burning tires," an eyewitness told Anadolu Agency.

Sudanese authorities, meanwhile, deployed extra forces in the capital in an attempt to re-open roads, witnesses said.