Turkey has joined Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan in condemning Israeli forces firing on Palestinians waiting for the delivery of aid, with its foreign ministry calling the event “yet another crime against humanity.”
Israel said many of the dead were trampled in a chaotic crush for the food aid, and that its troops only fired when they felt endangered by the crowd.
The Health Ministry in Gaza says more than 100 people were killed and at least 700 wounded. That brings the Palestinian death toll to more than 30,000 in the Gaza Strip since Israel’s war on Hamas began nearly five months ago after Hamas-led militants stormed across southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 others hostage.
Israel responded with a blistering offensive in the Gaza Strip that has created a humanitarian catastrophe and devastation in northern areas like Gaza City, which are largely cut off from the rest of the territory with little aid entering. In a statement issued late Thursday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry accused Israel of using “starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza.”
Currently:
— A Palestinian American woman who faces trial in Israeli military court is released on bail.
— Colombia pauses buying Israeli weapons and president calls war in Gaza “genocide.”
— Journalism leaders ask for more protection for those covering the war.
— Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.
Here’s the latest:
AIRSTRIKE IN SYRIA KILLS IRANIAN NAVAL CAPTAIN, NEWS AGENCY REPORTS
TEHRAN, Iran — An Iranian news outlet reported that an Israeli airstrike Friday near a coastal Syrian town killed a navy captain of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
The report by the semi-official Tasnim news agency identified the dead guard member as Reza Zarei, saying he was in Syria on an advisory mission.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, reported three explosions in a suburb of the coastal town of Baniyas. It said a house was struck, killing an Iranian adviser and two others whom it did not identify.
There was no comment from Israel or the Syrian government.
Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of war-torn Syria in recent years.
Israel rarely acknowledges its actions in Syria, but it has said that it targets bases of Iran-allied militant groups, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which has sent thousands of fighters to support Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.
In January, an Israeli airstrike on the capital Damascus killed five Iranian advisers.
THE EU AGREES CONDITIONS FOR GIVING $50 MILLION TO UN AGENCY FOR GAZA
BRUSSELS — The European Union said Friday that it will pay 50 million euros ($54 million) to the main U.N. provider of aid in Gaza next week after the agency agreed to allow EU-appointed experts to audit the way it screens staff to identify extremists.
The UNRWA agency is reeling from allegations that 12 of its 13,000 Gaza staff members participated in the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in southern Israel. The agency fired the employees, but more than a dozen countries suspended funding worth about $450 million, almost half the budget for 2024.
The EU’s executive branch, the European Commission, had been due to disburse 82 million euros ($89 million) to UNRWA on Feb. 29 but wanted the agency to accept its terms for an audit. The commission is the third biggest donor to UNRWA after the United States and Germany.
It said that the agency has now “indicated that it stands ready to ensure that a review of its staff is carried out to confirm they did not participate in the attacks and that further controls are put in place to mitigate such risks in the future.”
The commission said that two further tranches of funding worth 16 million euros ($17.3 million) each will be given to UNRWA as it complies with the agreement.
UNRWA is on the brink of financial collapse. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini welcomed the EU’s announcement and said that the commitment to provide money next week “comes at a critical time.”
TURKEY DENOUNCES ISRAELI FORCES FIRING ON PALESTINIANS WHO WERE WAITING FOR AID DELIVERY
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey denounced Israeli forces firing on Palestinians waiting for the delivery of aid as “yet another crime against humanity.”
In a statement issued late Thursday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry accused Israel of using “starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza” and alleged that the latest event, which left more than 100 people dead, was evidence “of Israel’s intention to destroy the entire Palestinian population.”
“The entire world must realise that the atrocity in Gaza is about to become a global catastrophe with repercussions far beyond the region,” the ministry said. “We therefore call on all those with influence over the Israeli government to stop the ongoing violence in Gaza.”