Egypt, Jordan Boost Cooperation to Deepen Strategic Ties

Part of the Egyptian-Jordanian consultation session in Cairo on Tuesday, July 26, 2022. (Egyptian Foreign Ministry)
Part of the Egyptian-Jordanian consultation session in Cairo on Tuesday, July 26, 2022. (Egyptian Foreign Ministry)
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Egypt, Jordan Boost Cooperation to Deepen Strategic Ties

Part of the Egyptian-Jordanian consultation session in Cairo on Tuesday, July 26, 2022. (Egyptian Foreign Ministry)
Part of the Egyptian-Jordanian consultation session in Cairo on Tuesday, July 26, 2022. (Egyptian Foreign Ministry)

Egypt and Jordan held an expanded consultation session in Cairo on Tuesday, co-chaired by Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi.

Both sides agreed during the meeting to bolster cooperation in the field of development.

Discussions tackled various issues of common interest at the economic and investment levels, in light of the aggravating international and regional challenges impacting regional security and stability.

They also touched on ways to promote future relations and bolster trade exchange and transportation, in line with the directives of the two countries’ leaderships to advance various frameworks and mechanisms of bilateral cooperation in all fields.

From the Egyptian side, the session was attended by Finance Minister Mohamed Maait, Transport Minister Kamel al-Wazir, Minister of Trade and Industry Nevine Gamea. On the Jordanian side, Finance Minister Mohamad al-Ississ, Trade and Supply Minister Yousef al-Shamali, in addition to senior officials from both countries.

According to an Egyptian Foreign Ministry statement, both sides agreed to remove restrictions that limit the flow of trade between the two countries.

They further decided to form a joint working group from the relevant ministries to facilitate procedures and address any future challenges, as well as identify two points of contact for this goal in the embassies of the two countries.

The ministers also tackled Egyptian-Jordanian bilateral projects in many sectors to follow up their implementation process and maximize their common interests.



UN: Nearly 70% of Verified Gaza War Dead Are Women and Children

FILE PHOTO: Palestinians react after a school sheltering displaced people was hit by an Israeli strike, at Beach camp in Gaza City November 7, 2024. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Palestinians react after a school sheltering displaced people was hit by an Israeli strike, at Beach camp in Gaza City November 7, 2024. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa/File Photo
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UN: Nearly 70% of Verified Gaza War Dead Are Women and Children

FILE PHOTO: Palestinians react after a school sheltering displaced people was hit by an Israeli strike, at Beach camp in Gaza City November 7, 2024. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Palestinians react after a school sheltering displaced people was hit by an Israeli strike, at Beach camp in Gaza City November 7, 2024. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa/File Photo

The UN Human Rights Office said on Friday nearly 70% of the fatalities it has verified in the Gaza war were women and children, and condemned what it called a systematic violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law.
The UN tally since the start of the war, in which Israel's military is fighting Hamas militants, includes only fatalities it has managed to verify with three sources, and counting continues.

The 8,119 victims verified is a much lower number than the toll of over 43,000 provided by Palestinian health authorities for the 13-month-old war. But the UN breakdown of the victims' age and gender backs the Palestinian assertion that women and children represent a large portion of those killed in the war.

This finding indicates "a systematic violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law, including distinction and proportionality," the UN rights office said in a statement accompanying the 32-page report.

"It is essential that there is due reckoning with respect to the allegations of serious violations of international law through credible and impartial judicial bodies and that, in the meantime, all relevant information and evidence are collected and preserved," United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not immediately respond to a request by Reuters for comment on the report's findings.

"Our monitoring indicates that this unprecedented level of killing and injury of civilians is a direct consequence of the failure to comply with fundamental principles of international humanitarian law," Turk said in a statement.

"Tragically, these documented patterns of violations continue unabated, over one year after the start of the war."

His office found that about 80 percent of all the verified deaths in Gaza had occurred in Israeli attacks on residential buildings or similar housing, and that close to 90 percent had died in incidents that killed five or more people.