At UN, Iraq and Turkey Escalate Dispute over Deadly Attack

A member of security forces looks on at an Iraqi mountain tourist spot which was hit with artillery bombardment in the Zakho district village of Parakh in the north of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region on July 22, 2022. (AFP)
A member of security forces looks on at an Iraqi mountain tourist spot which was hit with artillery bombardment in the Zakho district village of Parakh in the north of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region on July 22, 2022. (AFP)
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At UN, Iraq and Turkey Escalate Dispute over Deadly Attack

A member of security forces looks on at an Iraqi mountain tourist spot which was hit with artillery bombardment in the Zakho district village of Parakh in the north of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region on July 22, 2022. (AFP)
A member of security forces looks on at an Iraqi mountain tourist spot which was hit with artillery bombardment in the Zakho district village of Parakh in the north of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region on July 22, 2022. (AFP)

A dispute between Iraq and Turkey over a recent deadly attack in Iraq’s northern Kurdish region escalated at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Tuesday.

Iraq’s foreign minister demanded the withdrawal of all Turkish troops from his country, while Turkey’s deputy ambassador said his government will keep pursing fighters it considers terrorists who take refuge in Iraq.

The Iraqi government sought the meeting after the July 20 artillery attack that killed nine Iraqi tourists and injured 33 other people. Its foreign minister, Fuad Hussein, said the government has “proofs” that Turkish armed forces were responsible.

Turkey has denied it was behind the attack and blamed fighters from the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which is considered a terrorist organization by Ankara and the West. It has for decades waged an insurgency against the government in Ankara and maintains hideouts in Iraq’s mountainous north.

At the start of the Security Council meeting, the UN special envoy for Iraq had said Turkey and Iraq were ready for a joint investigation into the artillery shelling at the Parkha resort in the Zakho district of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region.

Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert said Iraq’s caretaker prime minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, emphasized in a conversation Monday “the importance of a transparent and thorough investigation: independent or jointly.” She quoted him as saying it is vital “to put a stop to speculations, denials, misunderstandings and rising tensions.”

The UN envoy said she understood “that Turkey is also ready to address the issue jointly, with Iraq, in order to determine exactly what happened.”

Iraq’s Hussein called on the Security Council to set up “an international independent team of inquiry” to look into what he called the Turkish army’s “flagrant aggression.”

The foreign minister told journalists later that Iraq is also ready to have a joint investigation with Turkey, but he said “they didn’t approach us” and “never sent us an official letter about having an investigation.”

Turkey’s deputy UN ambassador, Öncü Keçeli, countered that “we made it clear that Turkey is ready to take all the steps to unveil the truth,” stressing to the council that “our officials at many different levels have given the same message.”

He said some Iraqi authorities were on the same page as Turkey and “wanted to find out the truth.” But other Iraqi officials, he said, “chose escalation instead of diplomacy and cooperation,” and started a media “smear campaign” aimed at driving a wedge between the Turkish and Iraqi people.

Hussein said the Iraqi government is “sure” the Turkish military was responsible for the attack. He pointed to the findings of its investigation that Turkey's army has bases in the area near the resort, PKK fighters have not been in the area for the last month and the Turkish army uses 155 mm artillery projectiles whose fragments were found at the scene.

Hussein added that many people in the area “gave us enough information about the activity of Turkish soldiers there.”

He called on the Security Council to urgently adopt a resolution demanding that Turkey withdraw what he said were about 4,000 combat soldiers from Iraq, and halt incursions into Iraqi airspace.

Turkey’s Keçeli countered that “the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq are breached by terrorist organizations, not by Turkey,” which he said has always supported Iraq’s sovereignty.

“As we speak, the flags of the PKK terrorist organization are raised in certain parts of northern Iraq, not the flags of the federal government” or the Kurdish regional government, he said,

Turkey estimates the PKK controls an area of “at least 10,000 square kilometers in Iraq,” he said. “Nearly 800 villages have been forcefully evacuated by the PKK and all these spots have become a safe haven for the terrorists.” In the first six months of this year the PKK carried out 339 attacks against Turkey, he said.

“Iraq has so far proven to be either unable or unwilling to fight the terrorists,” and therefore it cannot blame Turkey for exercising its right to self-defense, Keçeli said.

Hussein said Iraq's government is ready to work alongside the United Nations and concerned countries “to ensure that elements of the PKK leave Iraq because this destabilizes Iraq" and undermines security in the country.

The Security Council issued a statement Monday condemning the attack on the resort “in the strongest terms,” expressing support for Iraqi authorities “in their investigations” and urging all countries to cooperate with the Iraqi government “and all other relevant authorities in support of these investigations.” The council did not mention Turkey.

Diplomats said chances of the council approving a resolution demanding the withdrawal of Turkish forces from Iraq are slim, especially given the key role Turkey is playing in the recently announced deal to export desperately needed grain from Ukraine and grain and fertilizer from Russia to countries facing food shortages, rising prices and widespread hunger.



Israel Plans to Capture All of Gaza under New Plan, Officials Say

 An Israeli army tank maneuvers in the Gaza Strip, is seen from southern Israel, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (AP)
An Israeli army tank maneuvers in the Gaza Strip, is seen from southern Israel, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (AP)
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Israel Plans to Capture All of Gaza under New Plan, Officials Say

 An Israeli army tank maneuvers in the Gaza Strip, is seen from southern Israel, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (AP)
An Israeli army tank maneuvers in the Gaza Strip, is seen from southern Israel, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (AP)

Israel approved plans Monday to capture the entire Gaza Strip and to stay in the Palestinian territory for an unspecified amount of time, two Israeli officials said, a move that, if implemented, would vastly expand Israel's operations there and likely draw fierce international opposition.

Israeli Cabinet ministers approved the plan in an early morning vote, hours after the Israeli military chief said the army was calling up tens of thousands of reserve soldiers.

The new plan, which the officials said was meant to help Israel achieve its war aims of defeating Hamas and freeing hostages held in Gaza, also calls for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to move to Gaza's south. That would likely amount to their forcible displacement and exacerbate an already dire humanitarian crisis.

A third person, a defense official, said the new plan would not begin until after US President Donald Trump wraps up his expected visit to the Middle East this month, allowing for the possibility that Israel might agree to a ceasefire in the meantime. All three officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing military plans.

Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 after a decades-long occupation and then imposed a blockade on the territory along with Egypt. Capturing and potentially occupying the territory again for an indefinite period would not only further dash hopes for Palestinian statehood, it would embed Israel inside a population that is deeply hostile to it and raise questions about how Israel plans to govern the territory, especially at a time when it is considering how to implement Trump’s vision to take over Gaza.

Since Israel ended a ceasefire with the Hamas group in mid-March, Israel has unleashed fierce strikes on the territory that have killed hundreds. It has captured swaths of territory and now controls roughly 50% of Gaza. Before the truce ended, Israel halted all humanitarian aid into the territory, including food, fuel and water, setting off what is believed to the be the worst humanitarian crisis in nearly 19 months of war.

The war began when Hamas-led fighters attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages. Israel says 59 captives remain in Gaza, although about 35 are believed to be dead.

Israel’s offensive has displaced more than 90% of Gaza’s population and, Palestinian health officials say, killed more than 52,000 people there, many of them women and children. The officials do not distinguish between combatants and civilians in their count.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in Gaza said Monday that the bodies of 32 people killed by Israeli strikes have been brought to hospitals over the past 24 hours.

Israel is trying to ratchet up pressure on Hamas

The Israeli officials said the plan included the "capturing of the strip and the holding of territories."

The plan would also seek to prevent Hamas from distributing humanitarian aid, a role that Israel says strengthens the group's rule in Gaza. It also accuses Hamas of keeping the aid for itself, without providing evidence. Aid workers deny there is a significant diversion of aid to militants, saying the UN strictly monitors distribution.

The officials said Israel was in touch with several countries about Trump's plan to take over Gaza and relocate its population, under what Israel has termed "voluntary emigration." That proposal has drawn widespread condemnation, including from Israel's allies in Europe, and rights groups have warned it could be a war crime under international law.

Hamas officials did not return calls and messages seeking comment on the plans.

For weeks, Israel has been trying to ratchet up pressure on Hamas to get the group to agree to its terms in ceasefire negotiations. But the measures do not appear to have moved Hamas away from its negotiating positions.

The previous ceasefire was meant to lead the sides to negotiate an end to the war, but that has remained elusive. Israel says it won’t agree to end the war until Hamas' governing and military capabilities are dismantled. Hamas, meanwhile, has sought an agreement that winds down the war without agreeing to disarm.

Israel's expansion announcement angered families of hostages who fear that any extension of the conflict endangers their loved ones. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which supports families, urged Israel's decision-makers to prioritize the hostages and secure a deal quickly.

At a Knesset committee meeting Monday, Einav Zangauker, whose son Matan is being held hostage, called on soldiers "not to report for reserve duty for moral and ethical reasons."

Some reservists have indicated they will refuse to serve in a war they increasingly view as politically motivated.

Israel wants to prevent Hamas from handling aid

The defense official said the plan would "separate" Hamas from the aid by using private firms and by using specified areas secured by the Israeli military. The official added that Palestinians would be screened to prevent Hamas from accessing the aid.

According to a memo circulated among aid groups and seen by The Associated Press, Israel told the United Nations that it will use private security companies to control aid distribution in Gaza. The UN, in a statement Sunday, said it would not participate in the plan as presented, saying it violates its core principles.

The memo summarized a meeting between the Israeli defense body in charge of coordinating aid to Gaza, called COGAT, and the UN It was written by a group briefed on the meeting and sent Sunday to aid organizations.

According to the memo, under COGAT’s plan, all aid will enter Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing, on approximately 60 trucks daily, and be distributed directly to people. Some 500 trucks entered Gaza every day before the war.

The memo said that facial-recognition technology will be used to identify Palestinians at logistics hubs and text message alerts will notify people in the area that they can collect aid.

COGAT did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The UN accuses Israel of wanting to control aid as a ‘pressure tactic’

After Israel said it was going to assert more control over aid distribution in Gaza, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs sent an email to aid groups, urging them to "collectively hold the line" and reject any "draconian restrictions on humanitarian work."

The email, which OCHA sent Monday to aid groups and was shared with the AP, further stated that there are mechanisms in place to ensure aid is not diverted.

Earlier, OCHA said in a statement that the plan would leave large parts of the population, including the most vulnerable, without supplies. It said the plan "appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic – as part of a military strategy."

Aid groups have said they are opposed to using any armed or uniformed personnel to distribute aid that could potentially intimidate Palestinians or put them at risk, and they fiercely criticized the new plan.

Israeli officials "want to manipulate and militarize all aid to civilians, forcing us to deliver supplies through hubs designed by the Israeli military, once the government agrees to reopen crossings," Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, posted on X, saying the group would not participate.

Hamas decried Israel’s efforts to control distribution of humanitarian aid in Gaza as a violation of international law.

In a statement Monday, the group said the effort is "an extension of the starvation policy" adopted by the Israeli government in Gaza.

Earlier this month, the AP obtained notes summarizing various Israeli proposals on aid distribution and aid groups’ concerns about them. In those documents, the groups expressed fears that Palestinians would be required to retrieve aid from a small number of sites, forcing families to move to get assistance and putting their safety at risk if large crowds gathered at the sites.