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.



Israeli Strikes Kill at Least 31 in Gaza as UN Agencies Warn of Fuel Crisis

 Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. (Reuters)
Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. (Reuters)
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Israeli Strikes Kill at Least 31 in Gaza as UN Agencies Warn of Fuel Crisis

 Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. (Reuters)
Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. (Reuters)

Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip overnight killed at least 31 people, according to local hospitals, as UN agencies warned on Monday that critical fuel shortages put hospitals and other critical infrastructure at risk.

The latest attacks came after US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held two days of talks last week that ended with no sign of a breakthrough in negotiations over a ceasefire and hostage release.

Twelve people were killed by strikes in southern Gaza, including three who were waiting at an aid distribution point, according to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, which received the bodies. Shifa Hospital in Gaza City also received 12 bodies, including three children and two women, after a series of strikes in the north, according to the hospital's director, Dr. Mohammed Abu Selmia.

Al-Awda Hospital reported seven killed and 11 wounded in strikes in central Gaza.

The Israeli military says it only targets militants and tries to avoid harming civilians. It blames civilian deaths on Hamas because the militants operate in densely populated areas.

Separately, three Israeli soldiers were killed in northern Gaza, according to the military. A military official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said on Monday that they died in an explosion in their tank, apparently after it was hit by an anti-tank missile, though the incident was still being examined.

UN agencies, including those providing food and health care, reiterated a warning made at the weekend that without adequate fuel, they "will likely be forced to stop their operations entirely."

In a joint statement, they said that hospitals are already going dark and ambulances can no longer move. Without fuel, transport, water production, sanitation and telecommunications will shut down and bakeries and community kitchens cannot operate, they said.

The agencies confirmed that some 150,000 liters of fuel entered Gaza last week - the first delivery in 130 days. But they said it is "a small fraction of what is needed each day to keep daily life and critical aid operations running."

"The United Nations agencies and humanitarian partners cannot overstate the urgency of this moment: fuel must be allowed into Gaza in sufficient quantities and consistently to sustain life-saving operations," they said.

The agencies signing the statement were the UN humanitarian office OCHA, food agency WFP, health organization WHO, children's agency UNICEF, the agency helping Palestinian refugees UNRWA, population agency UNFPA, development agency UNDP, and UNOPS which oversees procurement and provides management services.

Israel's military said a June 19 strike killed Muhammad Nasr Ali Quneita, a senior Hamas fighter who it said had taken part in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack and held hostage Emily Damari, a dual Israeli-British citizen, in his home at the start of the war.

There was no comment from Hamas and no independent confirmation.

Thousands of Hamas-led fighters stormed into Israel that day, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251 people, most of whom have since been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. The fighters are still holding 50 hostages, less than half of them believed to be alive.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed over 58,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which has said women and children make up more than half of the dead. It does not distinguish between civilians and fighters in its tally.

The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and is led by medical professionals. The United Nations and other experts consider its figures to be the most reliable count of war casualties.

Israel's air and ground war has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and driven some 90% of the population from their homes. Aid groups say they have struggled to bring in food and other assistance because of Israeli military restrictions and the breakdown of law and order, and experts have warned of famine.

Israel's Knesset meanwhile voted to expel a prominent Arab lawmaker, but the measure failed to pass the threshold of 90 votes in the 120-member assembly. Seventy-three members voted in favor.

The attempt to remove Ayman Odeh from parliament was related to a social media post in January in which he welcomed the release of both Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners in a Gaza ceasefire.

The prisoners released in the agreement included scores of fighters convicted of deadly attacks against Israelis, and rival lawmakers accused Odeh of supporting terror, allegations he denied. Many Palestinians view those imprisoned by Israel as freedom fighters jailed for resisting Israel's decades-long occupation of lands the Palestinians seek for a future state.

Israel's Arab minority, which makes up some 20% of the population, has citizenship, including the right to vote, but faces widespread discrimination. Its members have close family ties to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, and largely support their cause, leading many Jewish Israelis to view them with suspicion or contempt.