COVID-19 crisis:
Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan has called on the US to remove its "unjust" sanctions against Iran as international condemnation is growing against the bans amid the outbreak of the coronavirus in the country.
Head of Israel’s Likud party in the Knesset, Miki Zohar, has submitted two bills for approval by lawmakers, one of which calls for the annexation of the Jordan Valley, the northern Dead Sea and the Hebron desert in the occupied West Bank. The other bill seeks to reintroduce the death penalty for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Hashd Al-Shaabi:
A senior commander of Hashd al-Shaabi (Iraqi popular forces) said that the American forces in Kirkuk do not play any role in the establishment of security in the region and have been locked up in K1 base.
The Palestinian Authority (PA) has warned the regime in Tel Aviv against approving bills that seek to annex most of the occupied West Bank, including the Jordan Valley, and pave the way for death penalties for Palestinian prisoners.
Media watchdog:
The International Press Institute (IPI), a global media watchdog, has raised concern about the condition of journalists in the Indian-administered Kashmir region, saying press freedom there is “under serious threat from security forces.”
Army spox:
The spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces says the country’s troops, supported by allied fighters from Popular Committees, have managed to seize full control over the country’s northern province of al-Jawf from Saudi-sponsored militiamen loyal to former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.
Peace Now:
An Israeli anti-settlement group that monitors settlement construction activities in the West Bank says the average annual rate in the Tel Aviv regime’s expansion of such structures has risen 25% ever since US President Donald Trump took office in January 2017.
Human Rights Watch has brought into question Saudi Arabia’s recent detention campaign that netted 298 government officials over alleged malpractice, warning Riyadh against violating the arrestees’ rights and urging it to publicize the circumstances of their detentions.
As a state of emergency continues in the occupied West Bank and Israel in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, concerns have been raised over the conditions of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, where many inmates are subjected to torture and a lack of medical care.