Iraq Seeks to Ease Tensions ahead of PM’s Meeting with Biden 

Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Nechervan Barzani (right), Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (center) and former Kurdish President Masoud Barzani. (AFP file photo) 
Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Nechervan Barzani (right), Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (center) and former Kurdish President Masoud Barzani. (AFP file photo) 
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Iraq Seeks to Ease Tensions ahead of PM’s Meeting with Biden 

Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Nechervan Barzani (right), Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (center) and former Kurdish President Masoud Barzani. (AFP file photo) 
Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Nechervan Barzani (right), Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (center) and former Kurdish President Masoud Barzani. (AFP file photo) 

The State Administration Coalition in Iraq announced its complete support to Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani's upcoming visit to the United States where he will meet with President Joe Biden.

Sudani sponsored the coalition’s meeting that was held at the government palace and attended by Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish political leaders. The meeting was also notably attended by a prominent leader of the armed factions, Abu Alaa al-Walae, demonstrating that the truce between the government and groups remains in place.

Sudani is set to discuss several key issues related to Iraq’s ties with the US that have been nothing short of tumultuous since the US invasion 21 years ago.

The PM is seeking to resolve internal disputes so that he can dedicate himself to facing the Americans, who are banking on these disputes to continue to maintain influence in Iraq.

An informed Iraqi source told Asharq Al-Awsat that officials at the State Administration Coalition meeting held frank discussions over the future of relations between Iraq and Washington and the US-led anti-ISIS coalition.

The meeting clearly backed Sudani’s visit to the US and focused on security and relations between Baghdad and Washington whereby the state would be allowed to impose its control over all aspects of the country.

Sudani is hoping that his visit will be more successful than those carried out by previous PMs, who had headed to the US with various agendas and goals.

His predecessor Mustafa al-Kadhimi had paid two visits to the US during his relatively short two-and-a-half-year tenure.

Separately, Kurdish forces expressed their support to the outcomes of the visit carried out by Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Nechervan Barzani to Baghdad.

Barzani met with several senior officials, including Sudani.

Iraqi President Abdullatif Rashid stressed on Monday the need for cooperation between the Baghdad and Erbil governments so that they can overcome all disputes.

He also underlined the need for parliamentary elections to be held in Kurdistan.

Barzani and his accompanying delegation met with members of the pro-Iran Shiite Coordination Framework and the State Administration Coalition.



At Least 51 Palestinians Killed While Waiting for Aid Trucks in Gaza, Health Officials Say 

Smoke billows amid reported building detonations by Israeli forces to the east and north of Jabalia city in the northern Gaza Strip at dawn on June 17, 2025. (AFP)
Smoke billows amid reported building detonations by Israeli forces to the east and north of Jabalia city in the northern Gaza Strip at dawn on June 17, 2025. (AFP)
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At Least 51 Palestinians Killed While Waiting for Aid Trucks in Gaza, Health Officials Say 

Smoke billows amid reported building detonations by Israeli forces to the east and north of Jabalia city in the northern Gaza Strip at dawn on June 17, 2025. (AFP)
Smoke billows amid reported building detonations by Israeli forces to the east and north of Jabalia city in the northern Gaza Strip at dawn on June 17, 2025. (AFP)

At least 51 Palestinians were killed and more than 200 wounded in the Gaza Strip while waiting for UN and commercial trucks to enter the territory with desperately needed food, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry and a local hospital. 

Palestinian witnesses told The Associated Press that Israeli forces carried out an airstrike on a nearby home before opening fire toward the crowd in the southern city of Khan Younis. The military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

It did not appear to be related to a new Israeli- and US-supported aid delivery network that rolled out last month and has been marred by controversy and violence. 

‘Aren’t we human beings?’  

Youssef Nofal, an eyewitness, said he saw many people motionless and bleeding on the ground after Israeli forces opened fire. "It was a massacre," he said, adding that the soldiers continued firing on people as they fled from the area. 

Mohammed Abu Qeshfa said he heard a loud explosion followed by heavy gunfire and tank shelling. "I survived by a miracle," he said. 

The dead and wounded were taken to the city's Nasser Hospital, which confirmed the toll. 

Samaher Meqdad was at the hospital looking for her two brothers and a nephew who had been in the crowd. 

"We don’t want flour. We don’t want food. We don’t want anything," she said. "Why did they fire at the young people? Why? Aren’t we human beings?" 

Palestinians say Israeli forces have repeatedly opened fire on crowds trying to reach food distribution points run by a separate US and Israeli-backed aid group since the centers opened last month. Local health officials say scores have been killed and hundreds wounded. 

In those instances, the Israeli military has acknowledged firing warning shots at people it said had approached its forces in a suspicious manner. 

Desperation grows 

Israel says the new system operated by a private contractor, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, is designed to prevent Hamas from siphoning off aid to fund its activities. 

UN agencies and major aid groups deny there is any major diversion of aid and have rejected the new system, saying it can't meet the mounting needs in Gaza and that it violates humanitarian principles by allowing Israel to control who has access to aid. 

Experts have warned of famine in the territory that is home to some 2 million Palestinians. 

The UN-run network has delivered aid across Gaza throughout the 20-month Israel-Hamas war, but has faced major obstacles since Israel loosened a total blockade it had imposed from early March until mid-May. 

UN officials say Israeli military restrictions, a breakdown of law and order, and widespread looting make it difficult to deliver the aid that Israel has allowed in. 

Israel’s military campaign since October 2023 has killed over 55,300 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Its count doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants. 

Israel launched its campaign aiming to destroy Hamas after the group’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, in which gunmen killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking another 251 hostage. The fighters still hold 53 hostages, fewer than half of them alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals.