Türkiye Tells Germany Kurdish Militant Groups Must Lay Down Arms

20 December 2024, Türkiye, Ankara: German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock shakes hands with her Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan ahead of their meeting in Ankara. (dpa)
20 December 2024, Türkiye, Ankara: German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock shakes hands with her Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan ahead of their meeting in Ankara. (dpa)
TT

Türkiye Tells Germany Kurdish Militant Groups Must Lay Down Arms

20 December 2024, Türkiye, Ankara: German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock shakes hands with her Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan ahead of their meeting in Ankara. (dpa)
20 December 2024, Türkiye, Ankara: German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock shakes hands with her Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan ahead of their meeting in Ankara. (dpa)

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told his visiting German counterpart Annalena Baerbock on Friday that it is essential for Kurdish militant groups including the PKK and YPG to lay down arms and dissolve, Turkish Foreign Ministry officials said.

Ankara considers the YPG, which has fought for years in Syria alongside US troops, to be an extension of the PKK, which fights against the Turkish state and is banned as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the EU and United States.

Turkish forces and their Syrian allies have clashed with a YPG-led alliance in Syria since the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad this month.



Israeli Strike on a Gaza Apartment Building Kills at Least 7 People, Including 4 Children

A Palestinian carries a wounded child at the site of an Israeli strike on an apartment, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, December 20, 2024. (Reuters)
A Palestinian carries a wounded child at the site of an Israeli strike on an apartment, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, December 20, 2024. (Reuters)
TT

Israeli Strike on a Gaza Apartment Building Kills at Least 7 People, Including 4 Children

A Palestinian carries a wounded child at the site of an Israeli strike on an apartment, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, December 20, 2024. (Reuters)
A Palestinian carries a wounded child at the site of an Israeli strike on an apartment, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, December 20, 2024. (Reuters)

An Israeli airstrike on a residential building in central Gaza killed at least seven Palestinians, including four children, and injured 16 other people on Friday afternoon, health officials said.

The strike hit an apartment in the Jaffa residential tower in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp. The dead and wounded were taken to Aqsa and Awda hospitals.

The Israeli military did not immediately offer comment on the strike. Israel says it only strikes fighters and blames Hamas for civilian deaths because its fighters operate in residential areas.

Israel faces heavy international criticism over the unprecedented levels of civilian casualties in Gaza and questions about whether it has done enough to prevent them.