Tebboune, Erdogan Discuss Libya Crisis, Bolstering Relations

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) and his Algerian counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune (R) speak as they review a military honor guard during the welcoming ceremony, in Ankara, on May 16, 2022. (AFP)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) and his Algerian counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune (R) speak as they review a military honor guard during the welcoming ceremony, in Ankara, on May 16, 2022. (AFP)
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Tebboune, Erdogan Discuss Libya Crisis, Bolstering Relations

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) and his Algerian counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune (R) speak as they review a military honor guard during the welcoming ceremony, in Ankara, on May 16, 2022. (AFP)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) and his Algerian counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune (R) speak as they review a military honor guard during the welcoming ceremony, in Ankara, on May 16, 2022. (AFP)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held talks in Ankara on Monday with his Algerian counterpart Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who had arrived on a three-day visit on Sunday.

Discussions focused on bolstering bilateral relations, especially in the energy, trade, agriculture and tourism fields.

They also tackled regional and international developments of interest, notably the crisis in Libya, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the war on Ukraine and its fallout.

Tebboune had arrived in Ankara at the head of a high-level delegation.

Turkey and Algeria signed a number of agreements aimed at bolstering cooperation and lifting the trade exchange to over 5 billion dollars.

They also discussed Turkish investments and projects in Algeria that are worth 20 billion dollars. Officials tackled means to raise mutual investments between their countries.

Tebboune will conclude his visit by attending the Turkish-Algerian investment and business forum in Istanbul.

The president met on Sunday with members of the Algerian diaspora in Ankara.

He stressed that relations between Ankara and Algiers were strong and that he was ready to elevate them to the highest levels.

This marked the first visit by an Algerian president to Turkey in 17 years.

Turkish Ambassador to Algeria, Mahinur Ozdemir Goktas described it as a "turning point" in relations.



Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
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Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

Israel’s military ordered the evacuation Saturday of a crowded part of Gaza designated as a humanitarian zone, saying it is planning an operation against Hamas militants in Khan Younis, including parts of Muwasi, a makeshift tent camp where thousands are seeking refuge.

The order comes in response to rocket fire that Israel says originates from the area. It's the second evacuation issued in a week in an area designated for Palestinians fleeing other parts of Gaza. Many Palestinians have been uprooted multiple times in search of safety during Israel's punishing air and ground campaign.

On Monday, after the evacuation order, multiple Israeli airstrikes hit around Khan Younis, killing at least 70 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, citing figures from Nasser Hospital.

The area is part of a 60-square-kilometer (roughly 20-square-mile) “humanitarian zone” to which Israel has been telling Palestinians to flee to throughout the war. Much of the area is blanketed with tent camps that lack sanitation and medical facilities and have limited access to aid, United Nations and humanitarian groups say. About 1.8 million Palestinians are sheltering there, according to Israel's estimates. That's more than half Gaza’s pre-war population of 2.3 million.

The war in Gaza has killed more than 39,100 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The UN estimated in February that some 17,000 children in the territory are now unaccompanied, and the number is likely to have grown since.

The war began with an assault by Hamas fighters on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages. About 115 are still in Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.