Morocco Ministers, Senior Officials Donate a Month's Salary for Quake Relief Efforts

A meeting of Moroccan cabinet members (MAP).
A meeting of Moroccan cabinet members (MAP).
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Morocco Ministers, Senior Officials Donate a Month's Salary for Quake Relief Efforts

A meeting of Moroccan cabinet members (MAP).
A meeting of Moroccan cabinet members (MAP).

Morocco's government has announced that ministers, deputy ministers, and other officials will donate one month's net salary for the relief efforts for the earthquake victims in several Moroccan provinces.

During its meeting on Thursday, the government announced that the ministers, deputy ministers, the high commissioners, the general commissioner, and the ministerial commissioner would donate a one month's net salary.

Other public servants throughout the country will donate a one day's pay for each of the next three months: September, October, and November.

The pay will be deducted from their net salary before taxes or any retirement and social security contributions.

A government statement highlighted this national solidarity effort, referencing Article 40 of the constitution, which states everyone should bear, in a spirit of solidarity and proportion to their means, the costs required for the country's development and those resulting from the burdens caused by disasters and natural catastrophes that afflict the nation.

The initiative also comes in response to Moroccan King Mohammed VI's directives to address the devastating effects of the recent earthquake.

The government lauded the spirit of solidarity and unity exhibited by the Moroccan people during these challenging times.



Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
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Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

Israel’s military ordered the evacuation Saturday of a crowded part of Gaza designated as a humanitarian zone, saying it is planning an operation against Hamas militants in Khan Younis, including parts of Muwasi, a makeshift tent camp where thousands are seeking refuge.

The order comes in response to rocket fire that Israel says originates from the area. It's the second evacuation issued in a week in an area designated for Palestinians fleeing other parts of Gaza. Many Palestinians have been uprooted multiple times in search of safety during Israel's punishing air and ground campaign.

On Monday, after the evacuation order, multiple Israeli airstrikes hit around Khan Younis, killing at least 70 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, citing figures from Nasser Hospital.

The area is part of a 60-square-kilometer (roughly 20-square-mile) “humanitarian zone” to which Israel has been telling Palestinians to flee to throughout the war. Much of the area is blanketed with tent camps that lack sanitation and medical facilities and have limited access to aid, United Nations and humanitarian groups say. About 1.8 million Palestinians are sheltering there, according to Israel's estimates. That's more than half Gaza’s pre-war population of 2.3 million.

The war in Gaza has killed more than 39,100 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The UN estimated in February that some 17,000 children in the territory are now unaccompanied, and the number is likely to have grown since.

The war began with an assault by Hamas fighters on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages. About 115 are still in Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.