120 flights canceled after Madinah crash-landing

January 8, 2014

Jeddah, Jan 8: Civil Aviation authorities cancelled 120 domestic and international flights to and from Prince Mohammed Airport in Madinah following the crash-landing of a leased Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) aircraft on Sunday.

Many passengers had rerouted their flights to King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah to avoid waiting 24 hours at Madinah airport to get connections to their destinations, informed sources said.

A senior official at Saudia, who requested anonymity, said the airline had asked the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) many times to build a new runway at the airport to avoid the suspension of flights during emergency situations.

“Global aviation standards insist that an international airport should have more than one runway to use during emergencies,” the official said, adding that GACA had not responded positively to the airline’s request.

Madinah has received huge numbers of daily flights after the government upgraded the airport into an international facility, the official said.

Atef Tasji, public relations manager at the airport, confirmed that about 120 domestic and international flights were canceled after GACA decided to suspend flights to the airport following the incident. Informed sources said flights resumed after 36 hours on Monday evening.

Twenty-nine passengers were injured when SV2841 flight carrying 315 passengers and 16 crew members crash-landed in Madinah, on route from the Iranian city of Mashhad. Only three injured people are still in hospital. One of them is a woman who is in intensive care, while the other two are stable.

Meanwhile, Saudia provided a free limousine service to many passengers to catch their onward flights from Jeddah airport. Yasser Farook, an Egyptian, said: “I had booked a flight from Madinah to Cairo on Sunday.

A Saudia official told me I could either wait at the airport or catch another flight from Jeddah airport to Cairo. He then arranged a limousine for me to Jeddah. It was really wonderful.”

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Israel launches bloody ground offensive into Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp

News Network

May 12,2024

Israeli military tanks have started to go deeper into the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza as part of a ground offensive months after claiming Hamas had been “dismantled” in the area.

Israeli forces are “carpet-bombing” the eastern areas of Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip, killing and wounding several Palestinians, Al-Jazeara reported citing local sources on Sunday.

Israeli military tanks have advanced further into the Jabalia refugee camp, crossing Salah al-Din Street amidst ongoing battles with Hamas fighters, reports added.

Media quoted eyewitnesses as saying that the tanks are surrounding evacuation centers and residential buildings in the densely populated area, leading to mass evacuations and displacement towards the western part of Gaza City.

Also, Israeli drones targeted ambulances near the clinic run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Jabalia, according to Mahmoud Basal, the spokesperson for the civil defense directorate in Gaza.

Basal stated that emergency crews in Rafah, al-Zaytounm, al-Sabra, and Jabalia have been inundated with distress calls, confirming that these areas were subjected to overnight bombardment.

Shortage of oxygen for patients

Imad Abu Zayda, an emergency doctor in Jabalia, warned of the critical conditions prevailing there due to the recent Israeli aggression in the area.

“No light due to the lack of fuel and there’s no medical supplement available as Israel has expanded their operation in the area. We have no oxygen to give to patients,” he said.

He added that the majority of those injured are children and women, and the medical team is grappling with limited resources to provide essential care.

All hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip are now out of service, following a warning from the UN about the risk of running out of fuel in hospitals across the region.

Israel’s closure of the Rafah crossing has also prevented aid trucks from entering the area since May 5.

The Jabalia refugee camp, established in 1948 to accommodate Palestinians who were displaced after the Nakba, or catastrophe, which refers to the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948, has become the most densely populated refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.

With over 750,000 Palestinians forcefully displaced, this camp stands as a testament to the birth of Israel in 1948.

Since the start of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip on October 7, Israeli forces carried out several attacks on Jabilia camp, leaving it in ruins by intense bombardment.

In early February, Israeli forces withdrew from the camp claiming it had destroyed Hamas as a fighting force in the northern areas.

On Saturday, the Israeli military ordered residents of the Jabalia Refugee Camp to evacuate “immediately”, as it prepares to launch military operations against Hamas.

However, the displaced residents have no place to seek refuge, as the UN reports a severe famine in the region.

Since the start of the offensive, the Tel Aviv regime has killed more than 34,971 Palestinians and injured more than 78,641 others, mostly women and children.

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