Iraq: Sadr Demands Action over Deadly COVID Unit Fire

Residents hold a candle-lit vigil in the Iraqi city of Nasiriyah for the 60 people killed in Monday evening's fire in a Covid isolation unit - AFP
Residents hold a candle-lit vigil in the Iraqi city of Nasiriyah for the 60 people killed in Monday evening's fire in a Covid isolation unit - AFP
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Iraq: Sadr Demands Action over Deadly COVID Unit Fire

Residents hold a candle-lit vigil in the Iraqi city of Nasiriyah for the 60 people killed in Monday evening's fire in a Covid isolation unit - AFP
Residents hold a candle-lit vigil in the Iraqi city of Nasiriyah for the 60 people killed in Monday evening's fire in a Covid isolation unit - AFP

Iraq Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr has warned he will hold the Iraqi government responsible if it fails to action over a devastating fire that killed at least 60 people in a COVID isolation unit.

The warning comes just months before Iraq is scheduled to go to the polls in October for an early parliamentary election that was demanded by a protest movement backed by Sadr's supporters.

"It is incumbent on the government to work immediately to firmly and seriously punish those to blame for hospital fires, whether in Nasiriyah or other provinces, no matter their (political) affiliation," Sadr tweeted late Tuesday, AFP reported.

"Otherwise, this government will be held responsible from its lowest to its highest (official)."

The devastating blaze, which swept through the Covid isolation unit of Al-Hussein Hospital in the southern city of Nasiriyah on Monday evening, was the second such fire in Iraq in three months.

An April fire at a Baghdad Covid hospital killed 82 people and was also blamed on the explosion of badly stored oxygen bottles.

That blaze triggered widespread anger and resulted in the suspension and subsequent resignation of then health minister Hassan al-Tamimi, a nominee of Sadr's powerful political bloc.

Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi has ordered an investigation into Monday's blaze "that will lead to those directly responsible", his office said.

He already dismissed the hospital's manager, the provincial health director and the local civil defense chief.

Arrest warrants have been issued for 13 officials, including the provincial health director.

Sadr demanded that the findings of the official inquiry be released quickly.

"It must not end up like others conducted into previous hospital fires. Or else we have other means of protecting people's safety and dignity."

The health ministry said Wednesday that 60 people had been confirmed to have died in the fire. Forensics experts had identified 39 bodies while 21 were still unidentified.

Demonstrations in honor of the victims were planned in Nasiriyah later after residents held a candle-lit vigil late on Tuesday.



Netanyahu Aide Faces Indictment over Gaza Leak

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
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Netanyahu Aide Faces Indictment over Gaza Leak

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks to reporters before a meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

An aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces indictment on security charges pending a hearing, Israel's attorney general has said, for allegedly leaking top secret military information during Israel's war in Gaza.

Netanyahu's close adviser, Jonatan Urich, has denied any wrongdoing in the case, which legal authorities began investigating in late 2024.

Netanyahu has described probes against Urich and other aides as politically motivated and on Monday said that Urich had not harmed state security. Urich's attorneys said the charges were baseless and that their client's innocence would be proven beyond doubt, reported Reuters.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara said in a statement late on Sunday that Urich and another aide had extracted secret information from the Israeli military and leaked it to German newspaper Bild.

Their intent, she said, was to shape public opinion of Netanyahu and influence the discourse about the slaying of six Israeli hostages by their Palestinian captors in Gaza in late August 2024.

The hostages' deaths sparked mass protests in Israel and outraged hostages' families, who accused Netanyahu of torpedoing ceasefire talks that had faltered in the preceding weeks for political reasons.

Netanyahu vehemently denies this. He has repeatedly said that Hamas was to blame for the talks collapsing, while the group has said it was Israel's fault no deal had been reached.

Four of the six slain hostages had been on the list of more than 30 captives that Hamas was set to free if a ceasefire had been reached, according to a defense official at the time.

The Bild article in question was published days after the hostages were found executed in a Hamas tunnel in southern Gaza. It outlined Hamas' negotiation strategy in the indirect ceasefire talks and largely corresponded with Netanyahu's allegations against the militant group over the deadlock.

Bild said after the investigation was announced that it does not comment on its sources and that its article relied on authentic documents. The newspaper did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

A two-month ceasefire was reached in January this year and included the release of 38 hostages before Israel resumed attacks in Gaza. The sides are presently engaged in indirect negotiations in Doha, aimed at reaching another truce.

In his statement on Monday, Netanyahu said Baharav-Miara's announcement was "appalling" and that its timing raised serious questions.

Netanyahu's government has for months been seeking the dismissal of Baharav-Miara. The attorney general, appointed by the previous government, has sparred with Netanyahu's cabinet over the legality of some of its policies.