ANKARA: Turkey summoned the US ambassador on Monday to protest “aggressive behavior” by American security personnel and “security lapses” during Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Washington last week.
The key visit was marred by bloody clashes that took place outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence after Erdogan met American counterpart Donald Trump.
US officials and police have blamed Erdogan’s bodyguards for the incident, accusing them of attacking a small group of pro-Kurdish protesters gathered outside the building and the incident ignited a storm of controversy.
Witnesses at the scene last week confirmed this account to AFP, and on Monday the US State Department did not back down in the face of Turkey’s complaint.
“We can confirm the Turkish foreign ministry convoked our ambassador to Turkey to discuss the violent incidents involving protesters and Turkish security personnel on May 16,” spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.
“As we noted previously, the conduct of Turkish security personnel last week was deeply disturbing. The State Department has raised its concerns about those events at the highest levels,” she added.
Turkey blamed the violence on supporters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) who picked on pro-Erdogan US-based Turks.
The Turkish ministry summoned John Bass, American ambassador in Ankara, to deliver a “written and verbal protest” over “the aggressive and unprofessional actions taken.”
The ministry accused US security personnel of acting “contrary to diplomatic rules and practices... toward the close protection team” of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in front of the Turkish embassy chancery in Washington.
“It has been formally requested that the US authorities conduct a full investigation of this diplomatic incident and provide the necessary explanation,” it added.
The ministry said it told Bass there were “lapses of security” during Erdogan’s stay.
It hit out at “the inability of US authorities to take sufficient precautions at every stage of the official program.”
However, the ministry said it emphasized to Bass that this would not overshadow an otherwise “successful and important visit.”
US Senator John McCain said that the Turkish ambassador should be thrown “the hell out of the United States of America” after the fighting.
“This is Erdogan’s security detail. Somebody told them to go out there and beat up on these peaceful demonstrators,” McCain said Thursday.
Turkey summons US envoy over ‘security lapses’ in Erdogan visit
Turkey summons US envoy over ‘security lapses’ in Erdogan visit
Jordanian minister calls for greater water cooperation with Iraq
- Abu Saud stressed pivotal role of the private sector in operating and maintaining water and sanitation facilities
AMMAN: Jordan’s minister of water and irrigation has called for increased regional cooperation in a bid to address water challenges through innovative and sustainable solutions.
On Tuesday, Raed Abu Saud met with a delegation from the Iraqi Ministry of Water Resources who are visiting Jordan to bolster collaboration in managing water resources, Jordan News Agency reported.
The visit aims to facilitate an exchange of expertise, drawing from Jordan’s experience in water conservation, reducing waste, improving irrigation efficiency, utilizing treated water, and providing training as part of a joint program between the two countries.
During the visit, the Iraqi delegation toured the command and control center at the Jordanian ministry’s headquarters. They were also scheduled to visit various water sites to observe the management of irrigation water systems and the modern technologies employed.
Abu Saud highlighted the need for collective efforts to combat the effects of climate change, implement advanced water harvesting techniques, and enhance capacity building through specialized technical courses.
He pointed out the significant decline in Jordan’s water resources, which he attributed to erratic rainfall and climate change, and outlined the ministry’s initiatives in developing water and sanitation services, notably through Build-Operate-Transfer projects and other sustainable initiatives.
Abu Saud also stressed the pivotal role of the private sector in operating and maintaining water and sanitation facilities, underscoring the importance of strengthening partnerships with private entities.
He highlighted the water authority’s training center as a regional hub for training technical personnel in modern water management practices and thanked the Iraqi ministry’s efforts in fostering cooperation with Jordan’s water sector.
WHO condemns ‘abrupt halt’ to medical evacuations from Gaza
- Thousands of Gazans are estimated to require urgent medical evacuation
- WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris warned that the cut-off obviously meant more people will die waiting for treatment
GENEVA: Desperately needed medical evacuations from Gaza — already very limited — came to a full stop when Israel launched its military offensive on Rafah three weeks ago, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday.
The United Nations health agency has long been pleading for Israeli permission to evacuate more critically ill and severely wounded people from Gaza.
Thousands of Gazans are estimated to require urgent medical evacuation but few have been able to leave the besieged Palestinian territory since war erupted there nearly eight months ago.
WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris said that since Israel launched its military offensive in the densely crowded southern city of Rafah in early May, “there’s been an abrupt halt to all medical evacuations.”
She warned that the cut-off obviously meant more people will die waiting for treatment.
Before the war in the Gaza Strip erupted after Hamas’s October 7 attacks, around 50 to 100 people left the enclave every day with medical referrals for complex treatments that were not available in the Palestinian territory, including for cancer.
“Those people didn’t go away simply because conflict started, so they all still need a referral,” Harris told reporters in Geneva.
And since services in Gaza have been disastrously disrupted by the conflict, far more people need to leave to get services they used to access inside the strip, like chemotherapy or dialysis, she said.
In addition, thousands now need to evacuate after suffering severe trauma injuries in the war.
WHO estimates that there are now typically at any given time “around 10,000 people who need to be evacuated... to receive the much-needed medical treatment elsewhere,” Harris said.
They include more than 6,000 trauma-related patients and at least 2,000 patients with serious chronic conditions, like cancer, she said.
Since the complete halt to medical evacuations from Gaza on May 8, an additional 1,000 critically ill and wounded patients have been added to that list, Harris said.
Before the cut-off, WHO had received approval from Israel for 5,800 medical evacuations — around just half of the number it had requested since the war began.
Of those 5,800, only 4,900 patients had actually been able to leave, Harris said.
The Gaza war began after Hamas fighters attacked southern Israel on October 7, resulting in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Palestinian militants also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the Israeli army says are dead.
Israel’s relentless military retaliation has killed at least 36,096 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
Israeli army says it used small munitions in Rafah airstrike, and fire was caused by secondary blast
Israeli army says it used small munitions in Rafah airstrike, and fire was caused by secondary blast
- Daniel Hagari, the chief military spokesman, said Tuesday that the military fired two 17-kilogram munitions that targeted two senior Hamas militants
- He said the military is looking into the possibility that weapons were stored in the area
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: The Israeli military says an initial investigation into a strike that sparked a deadly weekend fire in a tent camp in the southern Gaza city of Rafah has found the blaze was caused by a secondary explosion.
Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the chief military spokesman, said Tuesday that the military fired two 17-kilogram (37-pound) munitions that targeted two senior Hamas militants. He said the munitions would have been too small to ignite a fire on their own and the military is looking into the possibility that weapons were stored in the area.
Palestinian health officials say at least 45 people, around half of them women and children, were killed in Sunday’s strike. The fire also could have ignited fuel, cooking gas canisters or other materials in the densely populated camp housing displaced people.
The strike caused widespread outrage, including from some of Israel’s closest allies. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was the result of a “tragic mishap.”
New strikes in the same western Tel Al-Sultan district of Rafah that was hit Sunday killed at least 16 Palestinians, the Palestinian Civil Defense and the Palestinian Red Crescent said Tuesday. Residents reported an escalation of fighting in the southern Gaza city once seen as the territory’s last refuge.
An Israeli incursion launched in early May has caused nearly 1 million to flee from Rafah, most of whom had already been displaced in the war between Israel and Hamas. They now seek refuge in squalid tent camps and other war-ravaged areas.
The United States and other allies of Israel have warned against a full-fledged offensive in the city, with the Biden administration saying that would cross a red line and refusing to provide offensive arms for such an undertaking. On Friday, the International Court of Justice called on Israel to halt its Rafah offensive, an order it has no power to enforce.
Netanyahu has vowed to press ahead, saying Israeli forces must enter Rafah to dismantle Hamas and return hostages taken in the Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war.
Israel says it is carrying out limited operations in eastern Rafah along the Gaza-Egypt border. But residents reported heavy bombardment overnight in Tel Al-Sultan.
“It was a night of horror,” said Abdel-Rahman Abu Ismail, a Palestinian from Gaza City who has been sheltering in Tel Al-Sultan since December. He said he heard “constant sounds” of explosions overnight and into Tuesday, with fighter jets and drones flying over the area.
He said it reminded him of the Israeli invasion of his neighborhood of Shijaiyah in Gaza City, where Israel launched a heavy bombing campaign before sending in ground forces in late 2023. “We saw this before,” he said.
Sayed Al-Masri, a Rafah resident, said many families have been forced to flee their homes and shelters, with most heading for the crowded Muwasi area, where giant tent camps have been set up on a barren coastline, or to Khan Younis, a southern city that suffered heavy damage during months of fighting.
“The situation is worsening” in Rafah, Al-Masri said.
Syria, donors must step up to help refugees return, UN refugee chief says
- Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said the Gaza war and the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict showed what happens if refugee questions are left unaddressed
- “If you leave it unattended ... it comes back with a vengeance”
BRUSSELS: The Syrian government and international aid donors must both do more if they want millions of Syrians forced to flee the country by war to return home, the UN’s refugee chief has said.
Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, said the Gaza war and the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict showed what happens if refugee questions are left unaddressed.
“If you leave it unattended ... it comes back with a vengeance,” Grandi told Reuters in Brussels on the sidelines of a European Union-led conference on aid for Syrians.
The forum yielded pledges of 7.5 billion euros in grants and loans for coming years, the EU said on Monday evening.
But 13 years after an uprising against President Bashar Assad spiralled into war, the fate of more than five million Syrian refugees living outside the country is increasingly contentious.
Lebanese politicians have been pushing for more refugees to be sent home. Some 800,000 Syrians are registered with the UN refugee agency in Lebanon, whose authorities say the true number of Syrians in the country is around two million.
The issue has also risen up Europe’s political agenda, with EU member Cyprus concerned that large numbers of refugees unwelcome in Lebanon will arrive on its shores.
But Western nations have not resumed ties with Assad, regarding him as a war criminal — an accusation he denies — and saying Syria is still unsafe for large-scale returns.
Some Arab states began re-engaging with Assad in the aftermath of a deadly 2023 earthquake but had little success in convincing him to create conditions for refugee returns.
Speaking on Monday evening, Grandi said he could not tell Western countries how to engage with Assad, but they could fund humanitarian work inside Syria by organizations such as his own.
“Something has got to give in all this, you know?” he said. “You cannot have the cake and eat it. You have to invest if you want solutions.”
VOLUNTARY RETURNS
Grandi said refugees should only return voluntarily – and this could only happen if they felt safe in Syria and could rely on basics such as housing and ways to earn a living.
For Syrian authorities, this meant providing security and solving bureaucratic problems such as documentation.
“It’s slow progress, but we’re working on it,” Grandi said. He said he told Assad last year he had a “huge confidence gap” with his own people, who need convincing they can trust him.
More than 500,000 people have been killed in the Syrian war and about 150,000 remain unaccounted for.
Many of the country’s schools, water supplies and electricity stations have been destroyed. A devastating economic crunch has added to the country’s woes in recent years.
Western aid donors had an important part to play too, Grandi said, with more funding for projects inside Syria.
“We have a program in Syria, but it is not very well funded,” he said, adding one flagship scheme had only received between 30 percent and 35 percent of the required funding.
“We need to invest more to create conditions for people to go back,” he said.
Netanyahu says deadly Israeli strike in Rafah was the result of a ‘tragic mistake’
- Israeli strike in Rafah that set fire to camp housing displaced Palestinians killed at least 45 people
- Strike has added to surging international criticism Israel has faced over its war with Hamas
TEL AVIV, Israel: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that a “tragic mistake” was made in an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza city of Rafah that set fire to a camp housing displaced Palestinians and, according to local officials, killed at least 45 people.
The strike only added to the surging international criticism Israel has faced over its war with Hamas, with even its closest allies expressing outrage at civilian deaths. Israel insists it adheres to international law even as it faces scrutiny in the world’s top courts, one of which last week demanded that it halt the offensive in Rafah.
Netanyahu did not elaborate on the error. Israel’s military initially said it had carried out a precise airstrike on a Hamas compound, killing two senior militants. As details of the strike and fire emerged, the military said it had opened an investigation into the deaths of civilians.
Sunday night’s attack, which appeared to be one of the war’s deadliest, helped push the overall Palestinian death toll in the war above 36,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and noncombatants in its tally.
“Despite our utmost efforts not to harm innocent civilians, last night there was a tragic mistake,” Netanyahu said Monday in an address to Israel’s parliament. “We are investigating the incident and will obtain a conclusion because this is our policy.”
Mohammed Abuassa, who rushed to the scene in the northwestern neighborhood of Tel Al-Sultan, said rescuers “pulled out people who were in an unbearable state.”
“We pulled out children who were in pieces. We pulled out young and elderly people. The fire in the camp was unreal,” he said.
At least 45 people were killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and the Palestinian Red Crescent rescue service. The ministry said the dead included at least 12 women, eight children and three older adults, with another three bodies burned beyond recognition.
In a separate development, Egypt’s military said one of its soldiers was shot dead during an exchange of fire in the Rafah area, without providing further details. Israel said it was in contact with Egyptian authorities, and both sides said they were investigating.
An initial investigation found that the soldier had responded to an exchange of fire between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants, Egypt’s state-owned Qahera TV reported. Egypt has warned that Israel’s incursion in Rafah could threaten the two countries’ decades-old peace treaty.
The UN Security Council scheduled an emergency closed meeting for Tuesday afternoon on the situation in Rafah at the request of Algeria, the Arab representative on the council, two council diplomats told The Associated Press ahead of an official announcement.
Rafah, the southernmost Gaza city on the border with Egypt, had housed more than a million people — about half of Gaza’s population — displaced from other parts of the territory. Most have fled once again since Israel launched what it called a limited incursion there earlier this month. Hundreds of thousands are packed into squalid tent camps in and around the city.
Elsewhere in Rafah, the director of the Kuwait Hospital, one of the city’s last functioning medical centers, said it was shutting down and that staff members were relocating to a field hospital. Dr. Suhaib Al-Hamas said the decision was made after a strike killed two health workers Monday at the entrance to the hospital.
Netanyahu says Israel must destroy what he says are Hamas’ last remaining battalions in Rafah. The militant group launched a barrage of rockets Sunday from the city toward heavily populated central Israel, setting off air raid sirens but causing no injuries.
The strike on Rafah brought a new wave of condemnation, even from Israel’s strongest supporters.
The US National Security Council said in a statement that the “devastating images” from the strike on Rafah were “heartbreaking.” It said the US was working with the Israeli military and others to assess what happened.
French President Emmanuel Macron was more blunt, saying “these operations must stop” in a post on X. “There are no safe areas in Rafah for Palestinian civilians. I call for full respect for international law and an immediate ceasefire,” he wrote.
The Foreign Office of Germany, which has been a staunch supporter of Israel for decades, said “the images of charred bodies, including children, from the airstrike in Rafah are unbearable.”
“The exact circumstances must be clarified, and the investigation announced by the Israeli army must now come quickly,” the ministry added. ”The civilian population must finally be better protected.”
Qatar, a key mediator in attempts to secure a ceasefire and the release of hostages held by Hamas, said the Rafah strike could “complicate” talks, Negotiations, which appear to be restarting, have faltered repeatedly over Hamas’ demand for a lasting truce and the withdrawal of Israeli forces, terms Israeli leaders have publicly rejected.
The Israeli military’s top legal official, Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, said authorities were examining the strike in Rafah and that the military regrets the loss of civilian life.
Speaking to an Israeli lawyers’ conference, Tomer-Yerushalmi said Israel has launched 70 criminal investigations into possible violations of international law, including the deaths of civilians, the conditions at a detention facility holding suspected militants and the deaths of some inmates in Israeli custody. She said incidents of property crimes and looting were also being examined.
Israel has long maintained it has an independent judiciary capable of investigating and prosecuting abuses. But rights groups say Israeli authorities routinely fail to fully investigate violence against Palestinians and that even when soldiers are held accountable, the punishment is usually light.
Israel has denied allegations of genocide brought against it by South Africa at the International Court of Justice. Last week, the court ordered Israel to halt its Rafah offensive, a ruling it has no power to enforce.
Separately, the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court is seeking arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as three Hamas leaders, over alleged crimes linked to the war. The ICC only intervenes when it concludes that the state in question is unable or unwilling to properly prosecute such crimes.
Israel says it does its best to adhere to the laws of war. Israeli leaders also say they face an enemy that makes no such commitment, embeds itself in civilian areas and refuses to release Israeli hostages unconditionally.
Hamas triggered the war with its Oct. 7 attack into Israel, in which Palestinian militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seized some 250 hostages. Hamas still holds about 100 hostages and the remains of around 30 others after most of the rest were released during a ceasefire last year.
Around 80 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have fled their homes. Severe hunger is widespread, and UN officials say parts of the territory are experiencing famine.
