Palestine swept by severe sandstorm

(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) A sandstorm tore through large areas of Palestine on Tuesday, peppering affected regions with dust and sand, reducing visibility, and driving up temperatures.

"The sandstorm hit Palestine at dawn Tuesday after sweeping through large areas of the Levant, including Syria and parts of Jordan and Lebanon," meteorologist Mohamed Ghanem told Anadolu Agency.

According to Lebanon's Health Ministry, two people were killed as a direct result of the sandstorm, while another 750 had suffered severe respiratory problems.

Ghanem said that the sandstorm - which, he noted, had increased the amount of dust in the air by some 150 percent - would continue to affect certain regions of Palestine for the next two days before gradually subsiding on Thursday.