16th Arab Conference on Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy Kicks Off in Jordan

A Jordanian flag flies above Amman. (File photo/AFP)
A Jordanian flag flies above Amman. (File photo/AFP)
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16th Arab Conference on Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy Kicks Off in Jordan

A Jordanian flag flies above Amman. (File photo/AFP)
A Jordanian flag flies above Amman. (File photo/AFP)

The 16th Arab Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy kicked off Sunday in Amman, Jordan, with the participation of approximately 150 scientists and researchers from across the Arab world.
Secretary-General of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul Gheit highlighted the region’s growing energy needs, noting that the Middle East and North Africa require a 70% increase in electricity capacity by 2050 to meet rising demand.

He emphasized that nuclear energy offers a vital and efficient solution to these challenges, pointing out that a single nuclear power plant can provide energy to an unlimited number of homes at an economical cost with minimal environmental impact, SPA reported.
The five-day conference will address key topics such as advanced reactor technologies, innovative nuclear applications in health and environmental management, and the role of nuclear advancements in driving social and economic development.

Participants will also explore strategies for meeting the increasing demand for clean energy, including developments in nuclear fusion.



Gaza Population Down by 6% Since Start of War, Says Palestinian Statistics Bureau

 The body of a victim of an Israeli army strike on a house in the Bureij refugee camp is carried for the funeral at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central Gaza Strip town of Deir al-Balah Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP)
The body of a victim of an Israeli army strike on a house in the Bureij refugee camp is carried for the funeral at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central Gaza Strip town of Deir al-Balah Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP)
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Gaza Population Down by 6% Since Start of War, Says Palestinian Statistics Bureau

 The body of a victim of an Israeli army strike on a house in the Bureij refugee camp is carried for the funeral at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central Gaza Strip town of Deir al-Balah Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP)
The body of a victim of an Israeli army strike on a house in the Bureij refugee camp is carried for the funeral at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central Gaza Strip town of Deir al-Balah Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP)

The population of Gaza has fallen 6% since the war with Israel began nearly 15 months ago as about 100,000 Palestinians left the enclave while more than 55,000 are presumed dead, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS).

Around 45,500 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, have been killed since the war began but another 11,000 are missing, the bureau said, citing numbers from the Palestinian Health Ministry.

As such, the population of Gaza has declined by about 160,000 during the course of the war to 2.1 million, with more than a million or 47% of the total children under the age of 18, the PCBS said.

It added that Israel has "raged a brutal aggression against Gaza targeting all kinds of life there; humans, buildings and vital infrastructure... entire families were erased from the civil register. There are catastrophic human and material losses."

Israel's foreign ministry said the PCBS data was "fabricated, inflated, and manipulated in order to vilify Israel".

Israel has faced accusations of genocide in Gaza because of the scale of death and destruction.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the United Nations' highest legal body, ruled last January that Israel must prevent acts of genocide against Palestinians, while Pope Francis has suggested the global community should study whether Israel's Gaza campaign constitutes genocide.

Israel has repeatedly rejected accusations of genocide, saying it abides by international law and has a right to defend itself after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023 killed 1,200 Israelis and precipitated the current war.

The PCBS said some 22% of Gaza's population currently faces catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity, according to the criteria of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a global monitor.

Included in that 22% are some 3,500 children at risk of death due to malnutrition and lack of food, the bureau said.