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AMMAN – The Criminal Court prosecutor on Thursday began questioning a young man who reportedly shot and killed his divorced sister in the Jordan Valley earlier in the day, official sources said.

The 25-year-old victim was allegedly shot and killed by her brother while in the street, a senior official source said.

“The victim was shot once in the forehead and died instantly,” the senior official source told The Jordan Times.

The 23-year-old suspect then headed to the nearest police station and turned himself in, Police Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi said.

“The suspect handed officers on duty a gun he claimed he used to shoot and kill his sister,” Sartawi told The Jordan Times.

In his initial testimonies to investigators, the suspect claimed “he murdered his sister for reasons related to family honour,” according to the senior official source.

The gun reportedly used in the shooting incident was sent to the Forensic and Laboratories Department for a ballistic match, the senior official source added.

Meanwhile, a post-mortem is expected to be performed on the victim at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine on Thursday, the senior official source said.

The Criminal Court prosecutor is expected to summon the victim and the suspect’s family members for further questioning, the senior official source said.

The suspect was ordered detained by the Criminal Court prosecutor for 15 days pending further investigations, the senior official source added.

Investigations are ongoing in the case, according to Sartawi.

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — "Israel must immediately reopen UNRWA-run schools and restore access for Palestinian refugees to UNRWA services in the West Bank", MP Sarah Champion,  Chair of the International Development Committee in the British Parliament said.

The Chair of the Committee, , has written to UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy on 9 May , about the continued Israeli harassment and undermining of UNRWA and that Israeli armed guards forced UNRWA into closing three schools that it operates across East Jerusalem and another three within the Shu’fat refugee camp.

On 8 May, heavily armed Israeli Forces stormed three UNRWA schools in Shu’fat Camp in occupied East Jerusalem, enforcing the illegal closure orders issued on 8 April 2025, forcing over 550 children out of their schools. The Israeli Security Forces harassed UNRWA teachers and detained one UNRWA staff member, ordering them to dismiss the students.

As a result, UNRWA was forced to evacuate all children across the six schools it runs in East Jerusalem.

UNRWA, runs a range of critical services for Palestinians in East Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Since the 1950s, UNRWA has run schools and medical clinics in East Jerusalem, which Israel seized during the Arab-Israeli war of 1967.

The agency is the second biggest provider of education in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) after the Palestinian Authority (PA), operating 96 schools in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and serving nearly 50,000 students from the first to the ninth grades.

"These closures represent simply the latest in a long line of actions intended to undermine the work of UNRWA across the Occupied Palestinian Territory," she wrote.

"UNRWA also operates health centres across East Jerusalem that meet the needs of 40,000 citizens. We have no guarantees that these will not be the next targets of the Government of Israel." Sarah said.

"Access to education is a basic human right. Removing that right by force is not only traumatic for the children who will lose out on vital learning; it demonstrates that the Government of Israel appears prepared to commit serious breaches of international humanitarian law. ..." Sara commented .

This latest provocation is just the latest in a string of actions to undermine the work of the agency. Will health centres be next?, "Sara said.

The agency said the closures will affect around 800 children, with no alternatives yet announced for them to continue their education.

"This is an assault on children. An assault on education," UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said in a statement.

"Storming schools and forcing them shut is a blatant disregard of international law."

"These schools are inviolable premises of the United Nations. UNRWA schools must continue to be open to safeguard an entire generation of children," Lazzarini added.

The development follows two bills passed by the Israeli Knesset last year, prohibiting UNRWA from conducting activities within Israel’s borders and making it illegal for Israeli officials to have any contact with UNRWA.

Those measures have been in effect since late January.

Israel has accused UNRWA employees of involvement in the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, a charge vehemently denied by the UN.

On his part, Roland Friedrich, Director for UNRWA Affairs in the West Bank, warned that the Palestine refugee children are at an "immediate risk" of losing their access to education.

"Israel’s actions today are a grave violation of its obligations as a UN Member State under international law," he said in a social media post.

"So here, Israel is acting in contravention of its own obligations and commitments as a party to the so-called general convention."

In the short term, UNRWA’s students will be left scrambling to finish their school year, which ends in June.

In the longer term, Friedrich warned that the effects of the closures will be far reaching.

"This is going to have a psychological impact, and an economic impact on the families. It will create a host of humanitarian issues," he said.

He also warned that, more broadly, the closures have political implications, tightening Israeli control over areas that are internationally recognised as occupied.

"We at UNRWA are bound by international law, we’re also bound by the UN General Assembly Resolution   last September on ending the occupation," he said. 

"It states very clearly that no UN agency or member state should undertake any steps that further reinforce the illegal occupation."

On her part, Al Jazeera correspondent Nour Odeh said that the closure of the UNRWA schools is "extremely problematic" because children would likely end up at Israeli institutions run by the Jerusalem Municipality and Israeli schools do not teach the Palestinian curriculum.

"It is an Israeli-run curriculum that Palestinians say ignores and erases Palestinian identity," Odeh said.

That move, is likely to have a "crippling effect" on UNRWA’s operations "in 19 other refugee camps" across the occupied West Bank, affecting "Palestinians who rely on the agency, not just for education but also for health services, for psychosocial support" Odeh added.

UNRWA has long faced attempts by the Israeli authorities to curtail its activities in East Jerusalem and bring all services, including education, under Israeli oversight, a part of its comprehensive war against the Palestinian presence and identity.

The Israeli campaign against the UNRWA has escalated in January as it ordered UNRWA to vacate all premises in the neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah in occupied East Jerusalem, where the Agency has had an established presence for more than 70 years and its headquarters is the centre of operations of the Agency’s work in the occupied West Bank including East Jerusalem.

An order which is in contradiction to international law obligations of UN member states including Israel, which is bound by the General Convention on Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations.  

Israel effectively annexed East Jerusalem in 1980 in a move not recognised by most of the international community, and sees the whole city as its capital.

Palestinians see East Jerusalem as the capital of their hoped-for future state.

Speaking to an advisory committee in Geneva, UNRWA Commissioner-General Lazzarini said the agency has been the target of a "global disinformation campaign" led by Israel that is "premised on the misguided belief that if UNRWA disappears, so will the issue of Palestine refugees."

AMMAN — The 20th Parliament has concluded its first ordinary session, having passed 14 draft laws and reviewed the 2023 Audit Bureau report. 

Key legislation approved by both the Senate and the House of Representatives included draft laws on the General Budget for the 2025 fiscal year, the Agricultural Risk Mitigation Fund, Public Statistics, and the Jordanian National Commission for Women. 

The two chambers also passed legislation concerning public electricity, cooperative societies, and the regulation of virtual assets, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

Lawmakers also endorsed amendments to several existing laws, including those concerning the Jordanian National Building Code, the Surveying Profession Law, the Real Estate Offices Law, the Residency and Foreigners Affairs Law, and legislation relating to the restructuring of government institutions, civil aviation, customs, and the penal code.

According to the Constitution, the Parliament holds one ordinary session each calendar year, lasting six months. The session opens with a Throne Speech delivered by His Majesty, and closes with a Royal Decree formally proroguing the proceedings.

A Royal Decree has been issued, proroguing the ordinary session of Parliament as of Sunday, 18 May 2025.

AMMAN —  Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi on Thursday participated in the opening session of the preparatory meeting of Arab foreign ministers ahead of the 34th Arab League Summit, which will be hosted by Iraq this coming Saturday.

The session approved draft resolutions to be submitted to the summit for endorsement, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.

On Wednesday, Safadi conveyed His Majesty King Abdullah’s congratulations to Iraq on hosting the 34th ordinary session of the Arab Summit.

At a joint press conference with the Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, and Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigration Badr Abdel Atty, following a meeting under the trilateral coordination mechanism, Safadi thanked Iraq for its exceptional efforts in preparing for a successful summit. 

He said that the summit reflects unity of Arab positions, commitment to joint action in service of Arab causes, strengthening of bilateral relations and promotion of cooperation across all fields, benefiting all nations and contributing to regional security, stability and peace.

The meeting had focused on activating the trilateral cooperation mechanism, which was based on the three countries’ leaders’ firm conviction of its importance in achieving effective cooperation in key sectors based on mutual benefit. Over the past few years, areas and sectors for cooperation have been identified, and the mechanism has yielded positive results.

"We conducted an objective assessment of what has been achieved so far, and we agreed to take practical steps to address any gaps and reinvigorate the mechanism. Our aim is to implement real, tangible projects that will have a positive impact on our peoples in areas such as energy, water, agriculture, trade, transport and infrastructure,” Safadi added.

He indicated that, although certain projects have been agreed upon, concrete steps are now required for their implementation.

Safadi stressed that Jordan fully recognises the importance of this mechanism and is committed to working with its partners to overcome the obstacles that have hindered progress in pursuit of a shared strategic interest.

He emphasised the ongoing political coordination aimed at resolving regional crises and building a future marked by peace, stability and development for all.

He also emphasised security and defencecooperation, as well as a shared commitment to combatting terrorism in all its forms. "Our security is one, and we face common challenges that we must confront together."

Safadi called on the international community to fulfil its legal and moral responsibilities, and to put an end to the Israeli aggression in Gaza which continues to kill innocent civilians, destroy infrastructure and deny the Palestinian people their most basic right: the right to life.

The meeting had addressed the devastating consequences of Israel’s ongoing blockade of Gaza, which has prevented the entry of aid and led to genuine famine, claiming the lives of children and civilians. No aid has entered Gaza since 2 March, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian catastrophe, he noted.

“We are calling on the international community to take action to prevent people from dying of starvation due to the denial of water, food, medicine and other essentials,” said Safadi. "We continue to work to rally international support for a permanent ceasefire and the implementation of the prisoner exchange deal brokered through the commendable efforts of Egypt, Qatar and the United States."

He noted that Jordan and Egypt are members of the Arab-Islamic Ministerial Committee, led by Saudi Arabia, which continues to work towards achieving an effective international response to end the humanitarian disaster in Gaza — a crisis that violates all international laws and humanitarian principles.

He also mentioned that the meeting had discussed the situation in Syria and reaffirmed Jordan’s support for the country on its path towards rebuilding a free, sovereign and unified state that fulfils the aspirations of the Syrian people after years of suffering.

"We reject Israeli aggression against Syria and call for an end to these attacks. We support Syria in its reconstruction efforts so that it can contribute to regional security and stability, because Syria’s security is integral to regional stability," he said.

Safadi concluded by referencing US President Donald Trump’s recent visit to Arab countries, emphasising the importance of building on its outcomes to resolve regional crises and achieve security, peace, and stability for all nations in the region.

AMMAN — President of the Jordan and Amman Chambers of Industry Fathi Jaghbir on Thursday saidthat lifting economic sanctions on Syria would mark a strategic step toward revitalising economic and trade relations between Jordan and Syria.

Jaghbir highlighted the historical and economic ties between the two neighbouring countries, stressing that easing restrictions on the movement of goods and financial transfers would facilitate the flow of commodities and services across the border, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

US-imposed economic sanctions in recent years, particularly the "Caesar Act", which came into effect in 2020, have had restricted financial and banking transactions, disrupted trade flows, and limited the ability of Jordanian investors to access the Syrian market, he noted.

Jaghbir expressed hope that Jordanian exports to Syria would return to their historical levels, which used to exceed JD181 million.

He added that recent months have seen signs of improvement, with Jordanian exports reaching JD13 million in the first two months of 2025, showing a 40 per cent increase compared to the same period last year.

The easing of restrictions would help accelerate the flow of goods between Jordan and Syria, reinvigorate trade, and open new opportunities for Jordan’s private sector, especially in reconstruction-related sectors such as infrastructure, construction materials, energy, pharmaceuticals, and food industries, where Jordan holds strong competitive advantages, he noted.

Jaghbir stressed the need for coordinated efforts to ensure that Jordanian products gain from this opportunityamid regional competition.

He also called for logistical planning to position Jordan as a hub for reconstruction projects and to establish mutual agreemnts with the Syrian side based on shared interests to ensure tangible benefits for the Kingdom.

Emphasising the potential of Jordan’s industrial sector during this period, he highlighted the Kingdom's strategic geographic location, which qualifies it to serve as a central logistical corridor for delivering goods to Syria, Lebanon and Turkey.

AMMAN — Jordan on Thursday expressed concern over the ongoing developments in Libya, according to a Foreign Ministry statement. 

Sufian Qudah, the ministry’s spokesperson, affirmed the Kingdom’s support for the security and stability of Libya.

He called for immediate de-escalation in Tripoli, and for preserving of the unity and resources of the Libyan people.

Qudah confirmed that all Jordanian citizens residing in Libya are safe, and urged all Jordanians currently in Libya to exercise caution, avoid conflict zones, and remain in contact with the Jordanian Embassy in Tunis or the Ministry’s Operations Center for assistance through the following numbers:

Gunbattles erupted on Wednesday in the Libyan capital between two powerful armed groups, a security official told AFP, just a day after authorities declared the fighting over.

Clashes flared between the Radaa force and the 444 Brigade in key areas of the city, including the port, the source said.

The fighting eased towards the end of the day, according to television reports and residents who spoke to AFP.

No official casualty figures have yet been released for the latest fighting, but the Libyan Red Crescent said it recovered a dead body from a major street in Tripoli.

The official described the fighting as "urban warfare", with intermittent clashes in residential areas involving light and medium weapons. In other areas, heavy weapons were being used.

Libya has struggled to recover from years of unrest since the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime leader MUamer qadhafi.

The country remains split between a UN-recognised government in Tripoli, led by Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah, and a rival administration in the east, controlled by the Haftar family.

The 444 Brigade controls parts of southern Tripoli and is aligned with Dbeibah, whereas Radaa controls parts in the capital's east and holds several key state facilities.

Fighting extended in southern and western Tripoli as Radaa and "groups supporting it came as reinforcements against the 444 Brigade", the interior ministry source said.

AMMAN — Under Royal directives, the Jordan Armed Forces–Arab Army (JAF) on Wednesday carried out a new medical evacuation operation, transporting four children with cancer from Gaza along with 12 accompanying family members to Jordan.

The operation is part of the second phase of the Jordanian Medical Corridor initiative, which was launched in early March to evacuate 2,000 ailing children from Gaza for treatment in the Kingdom.

The children would receive specialised care at the King Hussein Cancer Centre, as part of Jordan’s ongoing humanitarian efforts to support the Palestinians in the besieged Strip.

The first phase of the initiative saw the evacuation of 29 children and 44 family members, in cooperation with the WHO, according to a JAF statement.

Of those, 17 children and their families have recently returned to Gaza after completing treatment at both public and private hospitals in Jordan, the statement said.

The medical corridor is part of a broader series of humanitarian, medical, and relief initiatives implemented by the JAF to support the people of Gaza amid dire health and humanitarian conditions.

The JAF reiterated their ongoing commitment to delivering medical and humanitarian assistance, emphasising its dedication to supporting Palestinians.

The families of the evacuated children expressed gratitude to the JAF, and to the Kingdom’s leadership and people for their steadfast support of the Palestinian cause.