Nine UNRWA Staff May Have Been Involved in Oct. 7 Attack on Israel, Says UN

Internally displaced Palestinians at a makeshift camp built among the rubble in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 03 August 2024. (EPA)
Internally displaced Palestinians at a makeshift camp built among the rubble in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 03 August 2024. (EPA)
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Nine UNRWA Staff May Have Been Involved in Oct. 7 Attack on Israel, Says UN

Internally displaced Palestinians at a makeshift camp built among the rubble in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 03 August 2024. (EPA)
Internally displaced Palestinians at a makeshift camp built among the rubble in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 03 August 2024. (EPA)

Nine staff members of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees may have been involved in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, and their employment will be terminated, the United Nations said on Monday.

"For nine people, the evidence was sufficient to conclude that they may have been involved in the seventh of October attacks," Deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said.



Lavrentyev in Türkiye to Discuss Progress in ‘Normalization’ of Ties with Syria

Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Nuh Yilmaz held discussions with Lavrentyev at the Turkish Foreign Ministry headquarters on Saturday. (Turkish Foreign Ministry - “X”)
Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Nuh Yilmaz held discussions with Lavrentyev at the Turkish Foreign Ministry headquarters on Saturday. (Turkish Foreign Ministry - “X”)
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Lavrentyev in Türkiye to Discuss Progress in ‘Normalization’ of Ties with Syria

Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Nuh Yilmaz held discussions with Lavrentyev at the Turkish Foreign Ministry headquarters on Saturday. (Turkish Foreign Ministry - “X”)
Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Nuh Yilmaz held discussions with Lavrentyev at the Turkish Foreign Ministry headquarters on Saturday. (Turkish Foreign Ministry - “X”)

Russia continues its endeavors as part of an initiative to facilitate rapprochement between Türkiye and Syria and to restore normal relations between the two.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's special envoy to Syria, Alexander Lavrentyev, visited Ankara to conduct consultations on the Syrian file.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Nuh Yilmaz met with Lavrenyev on Saturday at the ministry’s headquarters in Ankara, in the presence of the relevant bodies concerned with the Syrian file in the two countries.
The Russian official had previously visited Damascus on June 26, and held discussions with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad over moves aimed at restoring normal relations with Ankara.
Assad expressed his readiness to respond to the initiatives proposed in this regard within the framework of Syria’s sovereignty.
Lavrentyev’s discussions with Ankara came a day after the Russian Reconciliation Center in Syria, affiliated with the Russian Ministry of Defense, announced the completion of the construction of a new Russian-Syrian military base in Ayn al-Arab (Kobani).
On Friday, the Russian TASS news agency quoted the director of the Russian Center for Reconciliation in Syria, Navy Colonel Oleg Ignasyuk, as saying that measures are ongoing to monitor the cessation of combat operations between the warring parties. He was referring to the Sochi Understanding signed between Ankara and Moscow on Oct. 22, 2019.
According to the understanding, Turkish and Russian forces conducted joint patrols in areas controlled by the SDF in northern Syria, including Ayn al-Arab.
Turkish Political Analyst Namik Durukan considered the establishment of the Russian base in Ain al-Arab as a remarkable step before an agreement is reached to hold a meeting between the Turkish and Syrian presidents, under Russian sponsorship.