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.



Israel Says Hit Around 10 Hezbollah Targets in Lebanon, Killed One Fighter

A picture taken from the outskirts of south Lebanon's village of Aitaroun shows smoke billowing after a raid carried out by Israeli warplanes on December 17, 2023. (Photo by AFP)
A picture taken from the outskirts of south Lebanon's village of Aitaroun shows smoke billowing after a raid carried out by Israeli warplanes on December 17, 2023. (Photo by AFP)
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Israel Says Hit Around 10 Hezbollah Targets in Lebanon, Killed One Fighter

A picture taken from the outskirts of south Lebanon's village of Aitaroun shows smoke billowing after a raid carried out by Israeli warplanes on December 17, 2023. (Photo by AFP)
A picture taken from the outskirts of south Lebanon's village of Aitaroun shows smoke billowing after a raid carried out by Israeli warplanes on December 17, 2023. (Photo by AFP)

The Israeli army said Tuesday it had struck around 10 Hezbollah targets overnight in seven different areas of south Lebanon, killing one fighter from the Iran-backed militant group.

The army also "struck a Hezbollah weapons storage facility, terror infrastructure sites, military structures and a launcher in southern Lebanon", the army said, AFP reported.

The strikes came after a rocket fired from Lebanon hit a Druze Arab town in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights on Saturday and killed 12 children aged between 10 and 16.

On a visit to Majdal Shams on Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Israel would deliver a "severe response" to the strike.

Israel says the rocket that killed the children was an Iranian-made Falaq and was fired by its ally Hezbollah.

Hezbollah has denied responsibility for firing the rocket though it claimed multiple launches towards Israel on Saturday.

Israeli forces and Hezbollah have been engaged in near-daily clashes along the border since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7.

The violence has so far killed 22 soldiers and 24 civilians on the Israeli side, including in the Golan, according to army figures.