OFER MILITARY COURT, Palestinian Territories: An Israeli military court on Monday ordered a Palestinian teenager arrested after a viral video showed her hitting two Israeli soldiers held in custody for at least another two days.
Ahed Tamimi, 16, was ordered to be detained until Wednesday to allow the court time to decide whether she should be allowed out on bail ahead of her trial.
Prosecutors are seeking to have her kept in custody until her trial ends.
Tamimi’s lawyer Gaby Lasky argued in court that her continued detention violates international conventions since she is a minor.
The teenager has been hailed as a hero by Palestinians who see her as bravely standing up to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank.
Israelis accuse her family of using her as a pawn in staged provocations.
Tamimi has been charged with 12 counts including assault and could face a lengthy jail term if convicted.
The charges relate to events in the video and five other incidents. They include stone-throwing, incitement and making threats.
Her mother Nariman has also been arrested over the incident, as has her cousin Nour Tamimi, 20.
Nour Tamimi was released on bail on January 5 while Nariman Tamimi remains in custody.
Ahed Tamimi’s family says the December 15 incident that led to the arrests occurred in the yard of their home in Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah in the West Bank.
Israel’s military said the soldiers were in the area to prevent Palestinians from throwing stones at Israeli motorists.
A video shows the cousins approaching two soldiers and telling them to leave before shoving, kicking and slapping them.
Ahed Tamimi is the most aggressive of the two in the video.
The heavily armed soldiers do not respond in the face of what appears to be an attempt to provoke rather than seriously harm them.
They then move backwards after Nariman Tamimi becomes involved.
The scuffle took place amid clashes and protests against US President Donald Trump’s controversial recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
Relatives say that a member of the Tamimi family was wounded in the head by a rubber bullet fired during those protests.
Seventeen Palestinians have been killed since Trump’s declaration on December 6, most of them in clashes with Israeli forces. One Israeli has been shot dead since then.
Ahed Tamimi, arrested in the early hours of December 19, has been involved in a series of previous incidents, with older pictures of her confronting soldiers widely published.
She has become something of an icon for Palestinians who have flooded social media with praise and support.
Remand extended for Palestinian teen in viral ‘slap’ video
Remand extended for Palestinian teen in viral ‘slap’ video
Amman ranks among world’s top cities after first Quality of Life Index
- Jordanian capital second Arab city to be ranked in UN-backed index after Saudi Arabia’s Madinah
AMMAN: Jordan’s capital Amman has completed its first Quality of Life Index, ranking among the world’s leading cities to be assessed under the globally recognized framework, it was reported on Monday.
As a result, the city has become only the second in the Arab world — after Saudi Arabia’s Madinah — to be ranked in the program.
The Greater Amman Municipality said the city placed 10th globally out of 100 participating cities, with its index set to be officially listed on the international Quality of Life platform, the Jordan News Agency reported.
The assessment was developed in collaboration with the Quality of Life Initiative of the UN Human Settlements Programme — known as UN-Habitat — to advance urban well-being and human-centered development.
The Quality of Life Index combines objective data with residents’ perceptions, using global well-being indicators alongside local measures, offering a comprehensive picture of daily life.
The index measures performance across nine key areas: basic services, mobility, culture and recreation, education, environment, economy, governance, health and well-being, and housing and social cohesion.
Yousef Shawarbeh, the mayor of Amman, said the initiative aimed to support the city’s long-term vision of becoming a prosperous, inclusive and sustainable urban center, Petra reported.
He added that the index provided deeper insight into residents’ lived experiences and would help guide policymaking to improve quality of life.
Akram Khraisat, director of the Amman Urban Observatory, said the city’s participation marked a major step toward data-driven urban planning.
He added that the index would enable the municipality to better prioritize services, promote inclusive development, and assess the impact of policies on residents’ well-being, in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Officials said the initiative complemented a range of ongoing development projects in the capital, including public transport improvements, participatory greening and urban agriculture schemes, climate action planning, digital transformation initiatives and the Greater Amman Municipality Strategic Plan 2022–2026.
