ISTANBUL: Hailstones the size of golf balls and heavy rain battered Istanbul on Thursday in a freak storm that flooded roads, felled trees and brought air traffic and rush hour transport to a standstill in Turkey’s biggest city.
At least two people were injured in the storm, the Daily Sabah newspaper reported. Flights from the city’s Ataturk airport, a major regional hub, had been suspended.
Parts of the city were pounded by large hail stones and roads were flooded with muddy rainwater. The downpour left some cars and buses submerged or stranded.
Footage from broadcaster Haberturk showed a city bus half submerged near a bridge in the city’s Unkapani district. Some of the passengers left the bus and waded through the flooded road while others climbed on top of the bus’s roof.
Other footage showed waves of hail and rain cascading down the stairs of the Taksim metro station.
Two people were injured when the wall of an old cemetery collapsed near a busy street, the Daily Sabah said.
A large crane toppled at Haydarpasa port, near the southern entrance to the Bosphorus, causing an explosion and a fire that was later brought under control, it said.
It was the second time this month that heavy rains flooded streets and disrupted transport in Istanbul.
Freak storm floods roads, fells trees in Istanbul
Freak storm floods roads, fells trees in Istanbul
Israeli settler kills 16-year-old Palestinian in West Bank, mayor says
- Attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank have increased sharply, with the UN reporting the highest number of attacks on record in October
RAMALLAH: An Israeli settler shot dead a 16-year-old Palestinian in Tuqu’ on Tuesday after the funeral of another teenager, the town’s mayor said.
Violence has escalated in the West Bank since the beginning of the war in Gaza in October 2023. Attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank have increased sharply, with the UN reporting the highest number of attacks on record in October.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Muheeb Jibril’s death on Tuesday.
“Today, after the funeral of 16-year-old Ammar Sabah, who was killed yesterday by the Israeli army in the town center, a number of youths were gathered by the main street when a settler shot 16-year-old Muheeb Jibril in the head,” Tuqu’ Mayor Mohammed Al-Badan told Reuters by telephone.
Israeli forces killed Sabah on Monday during a military raid on the town, the Palestinian health ministry said. The military said the incident was under review. It said rocks were thrown at soldiers who used riot dispersal means and later responded with fire.
The West Bank is home to 2.7 million Palestinians who have limited self-rule under Israeli military occupation. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis have settled there.
Most world powers deem Israel’s settlements, on land it captured in a 1967 war, illegal, and numerous UN Security Council resolutions have called on Israel to halt all settlement activity.
