Jordan condemns Al-Aqsa Mosque provocations, storming of compound
The Jordanian Foreign Ministry has condemned “in the strongest terms” the repeated calls by Israeli settler groups to blow up Al-Aqsa Mosque and replace it with a Jewish temple, calling this “abhorrent incitement”.
Ministry spokesperson Sufian Qudah said in a statement that such rhetoric coincided with repeated moves by the Israeli army to allow settlers to storm the compound under its protection, which constitutes an attempt to “change the historical and legal status” of the mosque, Islam’s third-holiest site.
Qudah said the Jordanian Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs and Holy Places and the Jerusalem Endowments and Al-Aqsa Mosque Affairs Administration, rather than the Israeli army, were the entities legally responsible for regulating access to Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Egypt condemns Israeli attack on UNRWA school
Egypt added its voice to the chorus of concern over Israel’s deadly attack on al-Jaouni school, calling the incident a “clear violation of international law,” according to Egyptian news site, Al Ahram Online.
Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said the crimes and abuses against innocent civilians in the occupied Palestinian territory must be halted immediately.
“This situation starkly highlights the failure of the international community to uphold its principles and values impartially, undermining its credibility and effectiveness. Therefore, it is essential for the UN Security Council to fulfil its responsibilities,” the ministry added.
School hit by Israel this week was a polio vaccination centre: UNRWA
Senior Deputy Director of UNRWA Affairs in Gaza Sam Rose told the BBC this morning that the al-Jaouni school in Nuseirat, which was bombed by Israel on Wednesday, had recently been used to vaccinate children against polio.
“This time last week, the school that was hit on Wednesday in Nuseirat was being used as a polio vaccination centre”, the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) wrote on X.
The attack flattened part of the al-Jaouni school and killed six workers from the UNRWA, which runs the school. The agency said it was the highest death toll among its team in a single incident in its history.
Rose told the BBC that UNRWA staff “are themselves grieving because, yet again, their colleagues have been killed”.
The Israeli attack, which killed at least 18 people, led to global outrage this week as Israel continues its pattern of attacking schools used as displacement shelters in Gaza.
Palestinians search for missing people under the rubble of a UNRWA-run school-turned-shelter known as al-Jaouni, following an Israeli air strike in Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, on September 11
Israel’s attacks on UN staff escalating in Gaza
Antonio Guterres, the secretary-general of the United Nations, is watching events in Gaza very closely, and according to his spokesperson, he is shocked and outraged by this latest Israeli attack on this UNRWA school-turned-shelter – a place where there were 12,000 Palestinians who were receiving food, water, medical attention – when this attack took place.
The UN is also saying that they have no evidence to back up Israeli claims that some of the UNRWA staff members killed were part of Hamas. Also, Israel is saying that they were targeting a Hamas command and control centre, and the UN is saying they have no evidence of that either.
However, they’re willing to investigate.
Now the UN clearly is in a very difficult position in Gaza. Just within the last couple of weeks, a UN convoy that was clearly marked with UN insignia on the side was targeted by the Israeli military. The Israeli soldiers fired several shots at the UN vehicle. Fortunately, nobody was killed.
And just this week, another convoy by the UN was also targeted in Gaza. A staff member was pulled out at gunpoint by an Israeli military official and that UN official was interrogated for several hours before being released.
The number of UNRWA staff that have been killed in Gaza due to Israel’s continued bombardment is now up to 220, making it the deadliest conflict in history for UN humanitarians.
