France and Jordan airdrop aid to Gaza

France and Jordan teamed up to airdrop seven tons of aid to civilians and aid workers in Gaza, President Emmanuel Macron said Friday. (X/@EmmanuelMacron)
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Updated 06 January 2024
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France and Jordan airdrop aid to Gaza

  • Macron’s office said the “extremely complex operation” took place late Thursday

PARIS: France and Jordan teamed up to airdrop seven tons of aid to civilians and aid workers in Gaza, President Emmanuel Macron said Friday, as Israel continued to bomb the Palestinian territory.
“In a difficult context, France and Jordan delivered aid by air to the population and those aiding them,” Macron wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
“The humanitarian situation remains critical in Gaza” after three months of conflict, he added.

The French leader posted a photograph of an airman standing on the cargo ramp of a military plane, with parachutes visible in the sky below.
Macron’s office said the “extremely complex operation” took place late Thursday, saying it had been made possible by close ties between the French and Jordanian militaries.
Each nation sent a C-130 transport plane with mixed French-Jordanian crews, bringing a total of seven tons of “humanitarian and health” aid, the presidency said.
At least 22,600 people have been killed in Gaza in Israel’s response to the October 7 attack by militant group Hamas, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
The United Nations estimates that 1.9 million Gazans — 85 percent of the pre-war population — have been displaced, with hundreds of thousands risking famine and most hospitals out of action.
There are serious shortages of food, water, fuel and medicines despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding deliveries of humanitarian aid.
In Gaza, “a quarter of the population is (facing) catastrophic levels of hunger,” World Food Programme chief economist Arif Husain told the New Yorker on Wednesday.
The supplies dropped by France and Jordan were equipped with systems that remotely guided them to a Jordanian field hospital operating in the territory, the French presidency said.
Thursday’s mission “allows us to show that such operations are possible,” the Elysee added, without saying whether it would be repeated.

 


Morocco’s energy ministry puts gas pipeline project on hold

Updated 03 February 2026
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Morocco’s energy ministry puts gas pipeline project on hold

  • The country’s natural gas demand is expected to rise to 8 billion cubic meters in 2027 from around ‌1 bcm currently, according to ministry estimates

RABAT: Morocco’s energy ministry said on Monday it has paused a tender launched last month ​for a gas pipeline project, without giving details on the reasons for the suspension.
The tender sought bids to build a pipeline linking a future gas terminal at the Nador West Med port ‌on the Mediterranean ‌to an existing ‌pipeline ⁠that ​allows ‌Morocco to import LNG through Spanish terminals and supply two power plants.
It also covered a section that would connect the existing pipeline to industrial zones on the Atlantic in ⁠Mohammedia and Kenitra.
“Due to new parameters and assumptions ‌related to this project... the ‍ministry of ‍energy transition and sustainable development is ‍postponing the receipt of applications and the opening of bids received as of today,” the ministry said in a statement.
Morocco ​is looking to expand its use of natural gas to diversify ⁠away from coal as it also accelerates its renewable energy plan, which aims for renewables to account for 52 percent of installed capacity by 2030, up from 45 percent now.
The country’s natural gas demand is expected to rise to 8 billion cubic meters in 2027 from around ‌1 bcm currently, according to ministry estimates.