Erdogan Tells UN’s Guterres Israel Must Be Tried in Int’l Courts over Gaza Crimes

Palestinians inspect the destruction caused by Israeli strikes in Wadi Gaza, in the central Gaza Strip on November 28, 2023, amid a truce in battles between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
Palestinians inspect the destruction caused by Israeli strikes in Wadi Gaza, in the central Gaza Strip on November 28, 2023, amid a truce in battles between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
TT

Erdogan Tells UN’s Guterres Israel Must Be Tried in Int’l Courts over Gaza Crimes

Palestinians inspect the destruction caused by Israeli strikes in Wadi Gaza, in the central Gaza Strip on November 28, 2023, amid a truce in battles between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)
Palestinians inspect the destruction caused by Israeli strikes in Wadi Gaza, in the central Gaza Strip on November 28, 2023, amid a truce in battles between Israel and Hamas. (AFP)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday told United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that Israel must be held accountable in international courts for the war crimes it committed in Gaza, the Turkish presidency said.

In a phone call ahead of a UN Security Council meeting on Gaza planned for Wednesday, Erdogan told Guterres that "Israel continues to shamelessly trample on international law, laws of war, and international humanitarian law by looking in the eyes of the international community", his office said.

Israel launched an air and ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza after the militant group carried out a deadly gun rampage in southern Israel last month, killing some 1,200 people and taking 240 others hostage. Israeli bombardment has killed more than 15,000 in Gaza, according to the enclave's health authorities.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, part of a so-called contact group of Muslim countries that has been holding talks with Western leaders over Gaza, will attend the meeting in New York on Wednesday, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday.



Landslide and Flash Floods Hit Indonesia’s Sumatra Island, Leaving 16 Dead and 6 Missing

Rescuers search for missing people after a landslide that killed a number of people and left some others missing in Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Monday, Nov, 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara)
Rescuers search for missing people after a landslide that killed a number of people and left some others missing in Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Monday, Nov, 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara)
TT

Landslide and Flash Floods Hit Indonesia’s Sumatra Island, Leaving 16 Dead and 6 Missing

Rescuers search for missing people after a landslide that killed a number of people and left some others missing in Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Monday, Nov, 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara)
Rescuers search for missing people after a landslide that killed a number of people and left some others missing in Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Monday, Nov, 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara)

Rescuers in Indonesia recovered 16 bodies under tons of mud and rocks or that were swept away in flash floods that hit mountainside villages on Sumatra Island, officials said Monday.
Six people are still missing, officials said.
Mud, rocks and trees tumbled down a mountain after torrential rains over the weekend and rivers burst their banks, tearing through four hilly districts in North Sumatra province, washing away houses and destroying farms.
Police, soldiers and rescue workers used excavators, farm equipment and their bare hands to sift through the rubble looking for the dead and missing in Semangat Gunung, a resort area in Karo district, said Juspri M. Nadeak, who heads the local disaster management agency.
Rescuers recovered six bodies after a landslide hit two houses and a cottage late Sunday, he said. Nine injured people managed to escape, he said. Rescuers on Monday were still searching for four missing people, including two children.
Rescuers on Sunday pulled two bodies from a river after flash floods swept away at least 10 houses and damaged about 150 houses and buildings in villages in South Tapanuli district, said Puput Mashuri, who heads the local disaster management agency.
Dozens of people were injured by the flash floods, which also destroyed more than 130 hectares (321 acres) of agricultural land and plantations.
Flash floods on Sunday left four people dead in Deli Serdang district and rescue workers on Monday were searching for two people who were swept away by flash floods and are still missing.
A landslide hit several houses in Harang Julu, a mountainside village in Padang Lawas district, said Mustari, the chief of the local search and rescue agency, who like many Indonesians goes by a single name.
Rescuers late Saturday pulled out the bodies of a four-member family, including two children, and rescued at least three injured people from the devastated village, he said.
Television reports showed relatives wailing as they watched rescuers pull mud-caked bodies from a room at a buried house in Harang Julu village.
Seasonal rain from about October to March frequently causes flooding and landslides in Indonesia, an archipelago of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile flood plains.
Last December, 12 people were swept away to Lake Toba or buried under tons of mud after heavy rains triggered flash flood and landslide in mountainside villages in North Sumatra province. Only one of them was found dead and 11 others remain unaccounted for.
The 1,145-square-kilometer (440-square-mile) Lake Toba, formed out of an ancient super volcano, is a popular sightseeing destination on the island of Sumatra and an area the government aims to develop as a magnet for international tourists.