King Salman opens mega airport in Madinah

July 4, 2015

Jeddah, Jul 4: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman opened the new Prince Mohammed bin Abdul Aziz International Airport in Madinah on Thursday night.

He was met at the airport by Madinah Gov. Prince Faisal bin Salman and Suleiman bin Abdullah Al-Hamdan, head of the General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA).

The king toured the facility, which has architecture reflecting the city’s traditions and heritage, a local publication reported on Friday.

The king listened to a briefing presented by Al-Hamdan on the airport’s sections, counters, duty-free market, restaurants and departure gates.

There was an opening ceremony held which started with a recitation from the Qur’an.

The new airport, built on an area of 4 million square meters, would in its first phase handle 8 million passengers a year, increasing the number to 18 million in the second phase, and then 40 million after the third and final phase.

GACA has been operating the airport on a trial basis since April to check systems. It is the first airport in the Kingdom constructed and operated entirely by the private sector.

The king left for Jeddah after the ceremony.

He was seen off by several princes, ministers and senior officials. On arrival at King Abdul Aziz International Airport, the king was welcomed by Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, Jeddah Gov. Prince Mishaal bin Majid, and other princes.

King Salman has meanwhile sent a message to Jordan’s King Abdallah on strengthening bilateral ties, and taking coordinated action to serve the interests of Arab and Muslim nations.

Sami bin Abdullah Al-Saleh, Saudi Ambassador to Jordan, handed the message to Prince Faisal bin Al-Hussein.

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Israel orders 100,000 Palestinians to evacuate eastern Rafah ahead of ground invasion

News Network

May 6,2024

The Israeli regime is forcibly evacuating Palestinians from the eastern part of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip amid the prospect of its widely-discouraged ground invasion.

“The estimate is around 100,000 people,” an Israeli military spokesman told journalists on Monday when asked how many people were being evacuated.

International organizations, including the United Nations, have repeatedly warned the regime against invading the city, citing its hosting around 1.5 million Palestinian refugees.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said a ground assault on Rafah would “put the final nail in the coffin” for humanitarian aid operations in the Gaza Strip.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs also said, “Any ground operation would mean more suffering and death,” with an official saying “It could be a slaughter of civilians.”

Multiple aid agencies, including the Norwegian Refugee Council, have likewise warned against a Rafah offensive.

The NRC said such an invasion “would profoundly exacerbate the already catastrophic levels of need and the humanitarian emergency for millions of civilians with nowhere left to go.”

The official alleged Hamas had killed three Israeli forces on Sunday, attacking them from Rafah.

The evacuation order came a sat least 22 people lost their lives in the regime’s airstrikes killed in Rafah earlier on Monday.

Rafah’s evacuation “is part of our plans to dismantle Hamas,” the Israeli spokesman added, referring to the Palestinian resistance movement that has been defending Gaza in the face of the war.

The Palestinians have fled there from the ravages of a war that the regime began waging against Gaza on October 7, following a retaliatory operation by the coastal sliver’s resistance groups.

At least 34,683 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed and 78,018 others injured so far during the brutal military onslaught.

On Friday, Hossam Badran, a member of Hamas’ Political Bureau, said Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence on carrying out a ground invasion of Rafah was a key stumbling block in negotiations aimed at a truce agreement.

The Israeli premier has said the regime would go ahead with invading the city “with or without” a truce.

Hamas has, however, asserted that the regime has failed to defeat the resistance during the war.

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