50 years on Israel’s War Crime in Bahr el Baqar : Never forget

Wednesday 8 April 2020 marked the 50 anniversary of Bahr el-Baqar school massacre.

In case you do not know what is then let me tell what happened from 50 years ago.

On 8 April 1970, Israeli Air Forces bombed a Primary school in a small Sharkia governorate village called Bahr El-Baqar aka “Cows’ Sea” killing 46 Children and injuring over 50 others.

An IAF Phantom Fighter struck the single-floored and three classrooms school at 9:20 am with five bombs and two air-to-ground missiles as part of its response on the war of attrition launched by Egypt.

There were 150 children in that poor school then.

From Ahram's archives, the shoes of the students at Bahr
El-Baquar school 
Colourized by Abdel Latif El-Tahan "My Heritage"

Interestingly, all the targets of Egypt during the war of attrition were military and never reached that civilian depth. 

Israeli officials said that they thought it was a military building and their war criminal defence minister then Moshe Dayan claimed that may be Nasser regime planted a school inside a military base !!

Coronavirus on the Nile : A new week with a huge challenge "Live updated"

It is the start of a new week in Egypt in the time of the Coronavirus and somehow it started with a huge challenge as the total number of Coronavirus patients is closer than ever to become 1000. The government has warned before that the situation can be difficult if we passed the 1000 patients. 

It is a huge challenge because the same government seems okay with the return of workers in factories and construction projects for the sake of the economy.

Sensitizing the Great Pyramid of Giza's Guards booth
"Neriman El-Mofty for AP"

According to the Housing ministry's spokesperson on Thursday that "4 Million Construction workers will return to construction sites and projects on Saturday " !! 

It is another week with another live update event in an attempt to gather important news, reports and numbers. 

Coronavirus on the Nile : No Friday Prayers at Mosques in Egypt till Coronavirus crisis is over

Egypt’s Ministry of endowment announced on Sunday that it extending the temporary closure of mosque to all kinds of Congregational prayers nationwide till the Coronavirus crisis is over.
It already announced the closure of mosques to congregational prayers on 21 March for 2 weeks period but now they are closed till this pandemic is over.

I do not recall in the Modern history that mosques in Egypt during the times of plagues and epidemics were closed down especially during the Friday prayer.
It is the first time I believe since the 20th Century the Egyptian government supported by the highest Islamic institutions aka Al-Azhar suspends the 5 daily Islamic prayers and the Friday prayer at Mosques nationwide to curb the spread of Coronavirus via mass public gatherings.
I heard the Adhan on Friday for the first time calling the prayers to pray “Zuhr” Prayer at home instead of the Adhan calling for Friday prayer to start.

It was an awkward moment for me because I live beside a small mosque and I got used to hearing the Friday prayer with the sermon authorized by the Ministry of Religious Endowment from my home while I could see tens of men praying outside the crowded mosque.
Friday 27 March 2020, the street was empty and Sheikh called for Zuhr prayer and that’s it.
It was an awkward moment but it is for great good.

Here is a photo that was taken shown an Emam calling for Zuhr prayer in an empty mosque.

Calling for Islamic prayer from an empty mosque last Friday "Masrawy"

For those who do not know, the 5 daily Islamic prayers are preferably to be congregational prayers or “Salat Al-Gama’ah” and the Friday Prayer must be done by the mosque every Friday also in congregational prayer.

Coronavirus on the Nile : A New Week under a partial curfew “Live updated”

This is the start of a new week under a partial curfew because of the Coronavirus outbreak.
This is the start of a new Live updated post, I will try to keep the blog updated with different posts as much as I can.
So far Egypt has crossed the 500 Coronavirus patients with over 120 fully recovered patients thankfully and over 30 deaths, unfortunately.

Sensitizing the Great pyramid of Giza last week " Ministry of antiquities
and tourism"

The government is hoping that it will be able to flatten the curve and not have the number of patients in Egypt doubled to become a thousand because it will be challenging to track down those who interacted with the patients on time.

It is another challenge because we are speaking about a nation of 100 million with a struggling developing economy. Half curfew means that there will be employees going to work and interact with others.
Hopefully inshallah we will make it with the least human costs. Economies can be rebuilt but humans are more important.
Here is the latest live update I am keeping for the next coming days. 

Coronavirus on the Nile : Chronicles of Pandemic in Egypt and Mideast

Updated on 3/25/2020

I am going to leave this post pinned because I am tired honestly of writing posts when I depend mainly on live blogging. Below is the live blogging app, follow it for the latest news concerning Corona in Egypt, the Middle East Region and Africa. Stay at home and stay safe.

3/22/2020

It is our daily post with all the updates from here and there.
On Monday, the main issue that was the talk of the town or rather the country was the news about the two senior Egyptian military men who passed away because of Coronavirus.
There is increasing talk as well as a demand for a curfew-like in other countries including our Arab neighbors.

Sensitizing mummies sections at the Egyptian Museum of Cairo

According to recent official statements, we have not reached this stage yet that needs a curfew.
Nevertheless, the rumors do not want to stop at all.
Either way, here is the live update.

Coronavirus on the Nile : Chronicles of Pandemic in Egypt and Mideast on 22/3/2020

One would think that the major news of the day was President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi about Coronavirus in the country and the stimulus pack the Egyptian government prepared to help the economy but this news is overshadowed by another news.

A worker cleaning a light post in Luxor "AFP"

Egypt’s Armed Forces announced that Lt. General Khaled Shaltoot passed away in Port Said after getting infected by Coronavirus.
The news was announced from minutes ago in Cairo on social media and mainstream.
This is the first Egyptian military to die from Coronavirus in the country.
On 21 March, Egypt’s Coronavirus death toll was 10 people while its total number of COVID-19 patients in the country reached 294. The Egyptian Ministry of Health has not yet issued its daily statement.
Nevertheless, here is our daily live blogging event.

Coronavirus on the Nile : Chronicles of Pandemic in Egypt and Mideast on 21/3/2020

Egypt’s Ministry of Health announced that the total number of Coronavirus patients increased to 294 with 9 new positive cases registered officially in the country.

Egyptian army sensitizing major public squares in the
country in Cairo 

It also announced that 2 Coronavirus patients passed away but at the same time the number of fully recovered patients increased to 41.

Egypt witnessed more decisions to restrict public gatherings on Saturday and now I will start a new Liveblogging session.

Happy Mother’s Day 2020 : To the ladies wearing white and yellow in hospitals #Stayathome

A message from a doctor telling people to stay at home

On Saturday Egypt and the rest of the Arab World celebrate Mother’s Day. On Saturday, millions of Egyptians are celebrating millions of great women just as spring is officially starting. Unfortunately, there are no big celebrations or big presents or outings as expected but it is more of an online
celebration.

On this day and during this current hard time worldwide, I dedicate this post and I bend the knee to all those ladies who left their homes and children staying in hospitals fighting Coronavirus epidemic as much as I can.

All respect to those ladies whether they are in Egypt or Italy or Iran or China or Spain or New York or the UK.

All love, support and prayers.

In Egypt, our doctors and nurses wear white robes and Yellow protective suits.
Happy Mother’s Day to all beautiful ladies around the globe.

Young ICU nurses at the Quarantine hospital in Ismailia
"@Batoota"

Please stay at home for the sake of all those beautiful ladies whether grandmothers or mothers.