Iraq Fears Disastrous Consequences of Gatherings During Eid al-Adha

A man cools off from the summer heat under an open air shower in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, July 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
A man cools off from the summer heat under an open air shower in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, July 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
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Iraq Fears Disastrous Consequences of Gatherings During Eid al-Adha

A man cools off from the summer heat under an open air shower in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, July 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
A man cools off from the summer heat under an open air shower in Baghdad, Iraq, Sunday, July 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Coronavirus cases have recently spiked in Iraq, sparking concerns of a growing outbreak amid a lack commitment by many citizens to health-related guidelines.

The concerns have grown bigger as the Iraqi authorities intend to lift the partial curfew during Eid al-Adha, end of July.

Last week, Baghdad declared its intention to lift the lockdown after the Eid but backed down after coming under criticism.

Riyad Abdul Amir, the director of the Ministry of Health, said that the Ministry has called for a curfew throughout the Eid.

Its request has been approved by the Higher Committee for Health and National Safety in order to avoid a wider outbreak similar to the one witnessed a week after Eid al-Fitr.

For weeks, cases have been spiking but recoveries are increasing as well, according to Abdul Amir.

The tally of cases could possibly decline if citizens continue to abide by precautionary measures, he said.

Each citizen should work on protecting himself and his family because the virus shouldn’t be underrated, he added.

Total cases in Iraq surpassed 100,000 while recoveries reached 65 percent and deaths more than 4,000.

The People's Mobilization Committee (PMC) announced burying 77 COVID-19 patients from ten provinces in the new Wadi Al-Salam Cemetery in Najaf in the past 24 hours.

In a statement, PMC revealed that the death toll from all provinces had reached 3,549 by Wednesday.

In a headway that reflects containing the pandemic in Nineveh, the Tal Afar Department of Health announced shutting down quarantine facilities following the recovery of all patients.

It confirmed that the two centers in Tal Afar were closed after ensuring the recovery of all patients there.



Egypt’s Parliament Speaker Rejects Proposals for Taking in Palestinians from Gaza

 Two boys watch a crowd of Palestinians returning to northern Gaza, amid destroyed buildings, following Israel's decision to allow thousands of them to return for the first time since the early weeks of the 15-month war with Hamas, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP)
Two boys watch a crowd of Palestinians returning to northern Gaza, amid destroyed buildings, following Israel's decision to allow thousands of them to return for the first time since the early weeks of the 15-month war with Hamas, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP)
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Egypt’s Parliament Speaker Rejects Proposals for Taking in Palestinians from Gaza

 Two boys watch a crowd of Palestinians returning to northern Gaza, amid destroyed buildings, following Israel's decision to allow thousands of them to return for the first time since the early weeks of the 15-month war with Hamas, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP)
Two boys watch a crowd of Palestinians returning to northern Gaza, amid destroyed buildings, following Israel's decision to allow thousands of them to return for the first time since the early weeks of the 15-month war with Hamas, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025. (AP)

Egypt’s parliament speaker on Monday strongly rejected proposals to move Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, saying this could spread conflict to other parts of the Middle East.

The comments by Hanfy el-Gebaly, speaker of the Egyptian House of Representatives, came a day after US President Donald Trump urged Egypt and Jordan to take in Palestinians from war-ravaged Gaza.

El-Gebaly, who didn’t address Trump’s comments directly, told a parliament session Monday that such proposals "are not only a threat to the Palestinians but also they also represent a severe threat to regional security and stability.”

“The Egyptian House of Representatives completely rejects any arrangements or attempts to change the geographical and political reality for the Palestinian cause,” he said.

On Sunday, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry issued a statement rejecting any “temporary or long-term” transfer of Palestinians out of their territories.

The ministry warned that such a move “threatens stability, risks expanding the conflict in the region and undermines prospects of peace and coexistence among its people.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right governing partners have long advocated what they describe as the voluntary emigration of large numbers of Palestinians and the reestablishment of Jewish settlements in Gaza.

Human rights groups have already accused Israel of ethnic cleansing, which United Nations experts have defined as a policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove the civilian population of another group from certain areas “by violent and terror-inspiring means.”