Palestine

The United Nations rights chief Michelle Bachelet yesterday expressed "alarm" at the large number of Palestinians – particularly children – who have been killed and injured by Israeli occupation forces so far this year, the Palestinian Information Centre has reported.

11 August 2022; MEMO: The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, announced yesterday evening that a delegation from the international body visited the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement leader, Bassam Al-Saadi, in Israel's Ofer prison.

Wennesland said, in a tweet: "Today, I dispatched a UN team to visit Sheikh Al-Sa'di in Ofer prison to follow-up on UN commitments to maintain calm in Gaza."

11 August 2022; MEMO: Twitter has blocked the account of prominent Palestinian journalist and author, Dr Ramzy Baroud. It is the latest example of the ongoing crackdown on Palestinian solidarity by social media giants, which over recent years has escalated the targeting of free-speech critical of Israel.

11 August 2022; MEMO: A ten-year-old Palestinian girl died today after sustaining head injuries during Israel's three-day assault on Gaza.

Layan Al-Shaer from Khan Yunis, in the south of the Gaza Strip, was transferred to Al-Makassed Hospital in Palestine's occupied East Jerusalem on Tuesday as her medical condition deteriorated.

10 August 2022; MEMO: An advisor to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has said that Arab states should abide by the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative and refuse to normalise relations with Israel until the Palestinian issue has been resolved. Mahmoud Al-Habbash, who advises Abbas on religious and Islamic affairs, made his comments to Russia's Sputnik news agency.

11 August 2022; MEMO: A delegation of Egypt's security officials is to visit Tel Aviv and the Gaza Strip to follow up the implementation of the ceasefire deal reached between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad last weekend, Al-Quds Al-Araby reported on Wednesday.

According to local sources, Egypt has told the Palestinians that the delegation is planning to visit Israel to follow up on the ceasefire deal next week. In Gaza, its members will meet Hamas and Islamic Jihad officials.

11 August 2022; MEMO: Israel has disclosed recently some of the details surrounding the 1956 Kafr Qasem massacre committed by occupation troops, in which 49 Palestinian civilians were killed.

11 August 2022; MEMO: The Israeli District Court in Jerusalem yesterday ordered the immediate demolition of a European-funded school in Ein Samiya community near Ramallah, Wafa news agency reported.

Ein Samiya school was inaugurated in mid-January in coordination with the Palestinian Ministry of Education afterhaving been built with European funds.

The court gave the petitioners two options: either to carry out the demolition themselves, or to pay for the Israeli occupation's bulldozers to demolish it.

09 August 2022; MEMO: Palestinians from the Israeli-occupied West Bank will be offered special flights from Ramon Airport, near the Red Sea resort city of Eilat, to destinations in Turkey, Israel's Airports Authority said on Tuesday, reports Reuters.

The move is Israel's latest gesture to Palestinians, following pressure from the United States to ease travel for Palestinians as prospects for reviving long-stalled peace talks and establishing an independent Palestinian state appeared dim.

IDNA, West Bank (AP) — A Palestinian hunger striker who his family says has refused food for the past 160 days and is wasting away in an Israeli jailhouse infirmary has suddenly been thrust into the center of efforts to firm up a Gaza cease-fire.

Khalil Awawdeh is in the spotlight because the Islamic Jihad group sought his release as part of Egyptian-brokered talks that ended three days of fighting between the Gaza-based militants and Israel over the weekend.