Jordan Nixes Power For Water Deal With Israel Over Gaza War, FM Says

Palestinians inspect the rubble of the Sousi Mosque destroyed after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike at Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, early Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. (AP)
Palestinians inspect the rubble of the Sousi Mosque destroyed after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike at Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, early Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. (AP)
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Jordan Nixes Power For Water Deal With Israel Over Gaza War, FM Says

Palestinians inspect the rubble of the Sousi Mosque destroyed after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike at Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, early Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. (AP)
Palestinians inspect the rubble of the Sousi Mosque destroyed after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike at Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, early Monday, Oct. 9, 2023. (AP)

Jordan announced Thursday that it was dropping a planned deal with Israel to exchange solar energy for desalinated water, saying the Gaza war had made it unthinkable.

"The energy for water deal was supposed to have been done last month, but we are not going to sign it," Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi told Qatar-based news channel Al Jazeera in an interview.

"Can you imagine a Jordanian minister sitting down with an Israeli minister to sign an agreement while Israel is killing our own in Gaza?" AFP quoted Safadi saying.

"What Israel is doing has created a climate of hatred in which there can be no normal peaceful relations."

The two countries signed a declaration of intent to exchange Jordanian solar energy for Israeli desalinated water in Dubai in November 2021 as part of an agreement brokered by the United States.

But nearly six weeks of unrelenting Israeli bombardment of Gaza in response to the shock attack by Palestinian militants on October 7 that killed more than 1,200 people have sparked a wave of anger in the kingdom.

Thousands have taken to the streets demanding the abrogation of its 1994 peace treaty with Israel and the closure of the Israeli embassy.



Palestinian Prisoner Group Demands International Inquiry into Israeli Abuse Allegations 

Soldiers lock a gate from the inside at Sde Teiman detention facility, after Israeli military police arrived at the site as part of an investigation into the suspected abuse of a Palestinian detainee, near Beersheba, in southern Israel, July 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Soldiers lock a gate from the inside at Sde Teiman detention facility, after Israeli military police arrived at the site as part of an investigation into the suspected abuse of a Palestinian detainee, near Beersheba, in southern Israel, July 29, 2024. (Reuters)
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Palestinian Prisoner Group Demands International Inquiry into Israeli Abuse Allegations 

Soldiers lock a gate from the inside at Sde Teiman detention facility, after Israeli military police arrived at the site as part of an investigation into the suspected abuse of a Palestinian detainee, near Beersheba, in southern Israel, July 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Soldiers lock a gate from the inside at Sde Teiman detention facility, after Israeli military police arrived at the site as part of an investigation into the suspected abuse of a Palestinian detainee, near Beersheba, in southern Israel, July 29, 2024. (Reuters)

The association representing Palestinian prisoners called for an international inquiry into allegations of abuse of detainees in Israeli jails since the start of the war in Gaza, following an outcry by right wing protesters over an Israeli investigation.

Qadura Fares, head of the Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission, said on Monday night there had been multiple reports of abuse at Sde Teiman, the military facility in southern Israel at the center of the investigation.

"Every day, as we witness the massacres against our people in Gaza, we hear horrific and harsh testimonies from legal teams and detainees who are released," he said in a statement.

He said the Israeli investigation and the detention of nine Israeli soldiers was a "farce" aimed at misleading world opinion.

The Israeli military said the investigation into the Israeli soldiers was ordered "following suspected substantial abuse of a detainee". It provided no further details.

According to Israeli press reports, the soldiers have been accused of sexually abusing the prisoner. Reuters has not been able to independently verify those reports. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Army Radio reported that the detainee had been a member of an elite unit of the armed group Hamas who had been captured in Gaza during the Israeli offensive there that followed the group's Oct. 7 attack.

The investigation sparked angry protests from some Israelis who said the soldiers had been doing their duty. It also underscored longstanding tensions in the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu between hardline nationalist-religious parties and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and the army command.

Protesters, including a number of prominent right-wing politicians, broke into two Israeli military facilities on Monday, in a move denounced by Israel's army chief as "bordering on anarchy".