Human Rights

Main COVID-19 testing center in Gaza damaged due to Israeli airstrikes

GAZA, May 18 (Xinhua) -- The main COVID-19 testing center in Gaza city was damaged due to intensive Israeli fighter jet strikes waged on the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian health official said Tuesday.

Yousef Abu al-Reesh, health ministry director-general in Gaza, told reporters that the COVID-19 testing center in the Remal neighborhood in western Gaza city has completely stopped operating due to the Israeli airstrikes on the area.

USA: Anti-Asian hate crimes bill sent to Biden for signature after passage in House

WASHINGTON, May 18 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. House on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to pass a bill aimed at combating the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes in the country, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden's desk for signature.

The COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act passed in a 364-62 vote in the House, with all no votes coming from Republicans. The Senate last month approved the bill on a 94-1 vote, with GOP Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri casting the lone no vote. Biden is expected to sign the bill into law as soon as Thursday.

US blocks new draft UN statement on Middle East violence

UNITED NATIONS, May 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United States blocked – for the third time in a week – the adoption of a joint UN Security Council statement calling for a halt to Israeli-Palestinian violence, triggering a new emergency closed-door session set for Tuesday.

The text drafted by China, Tunisia and Norway was submitted late Sunday for approval Monday by the council’s 15 members, as Israeli jets continued to pound the Gaza Strip and the death toll from a week of violence passed 200.

Mediators should adopt our conditions: Hamas

18 May 2021; MEMO: Senior Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook said that ceasefire mediation has not succeeded so far, stressing that any successes would be after Hamas' conditions are accepted.

Speaking to Al Jazeera Mubasher, Abu Marzook said: "Mediation has not succeeded yet; if they succeeded, they would have adopted our conditions, not Israel's conditions."

52,000 Palestinian displaced in Israel attacks on Gaza: UN

18 May 2021; MEMO: The United Nations said that at least 52,000 people have been displaced due to Israeli air strikes that have destroyed or badly damaged nearly 450 buildings in the Gaza Strip.

About 47,000 of the displaced people have sought shelter in 58 UN-run schools in Gaza, Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Geneva, told reporters.

Egypt journalists body joins international legal action against Israel

18 May 2021; MEMO: Egypt's Journalists Syndicate Council said it has joined all international legal cases filed with the competent international bodies against Israel over its violations of international laws, amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity in Palestine.

In a statement, the council slammed Israel's "brutal attacks" amounting to "war crimes and crimes against humanity" against the Palestinian people across historic Palestine.

Turkey's Erdogan proposes new ruling model for Jerusalem

18 May 2021; MEMO: Turkish President Recep Tayyib Erdogan yesterday proposed the establishment of a commission with Jewish, Muslim, Christian representatives to govern Jerusalem, Anadolu Agency reports.

Erdogan also called on the UN, UN Security Council (UNSC), Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and other international bodies to unite against the oppression of civilians in Palestine.

Palestine will continue to be massacred if Israel is not punished: Erdogan

18 May 2021; MEMO: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Pope Francis that the international community must sanction Israel for its brutal violence against Palestinians, stressing that Palestinians continue to be subjected to massacres as a result of global inaction, Turkish media reported yesterday.

Erdogan, according to TRT, urged the pontiff to keep speaking about the ongoing onslaught against Palestine.

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