Erdogan announces opening of UNRWA office in Turkiye
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees will open an office in Turkiye’s capital, Ankara, Erdogan has said.
Speaking at the meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul, the Turkish president urged member states to provide the agency with more support following Israel’s decision to ban it.
“We must not allow UNRWA, which plays an irreplaceable role in terms of taking care of Palestinian refugees, to be paralysed by Israel,” Erdogan said. “We expect our organisation and each member state to provide financial and moral support to UNRWA to thwart Israel’s games.”
Erdogan also said the opening of the office would deepen Turkiye’s support for the agency. The country gave UNRWA $10m a year between 2023 and 2025. In 2024, it also transferred $2m and sent another $3m from its AFAD disaster management authority.
Israel’s ‘expansionist policies’ require regional intervention: Turkiye
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has praised Qatar and Egypt for their ongoing efforts to get a ceasefire for Gaza while denouncing Israel for its continued attacks on Palestine.
“Israel seeks to expel Palestinians from their lands, has turned the West Bank into a warzone, and seeks to undermine the two-state solution,” Fidan told foreign ministers gathered in Istanbul at the summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
“Israeli attacks and its expansionist policies require us to deal with them. These are not the problems of individual countries alone – they are Israel’s problem alone. We condemn Israeli attacks and they must be stopped immediately. The international community must immediately halt these policies that threaten global stability,” he added.
Gulf states warn of human, ecological threats from Israeli attacks
Gulf Cooperation Council ambassadors have expressed concerns to UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi about the safety of Iran’s nuclear facilities close to their countries. Qatar’s state news agency reported the ambassadors warned Grossi during a meeting in Vienna about the “dangerous repercussions” of Israel targeting nuclear sites.
“They warned of the serious consequences of targeting nuclear facilities, both human and environmental, as this poses a direct threat to radiological safety and the international nuclear safeguards system, as well as a clear violation of international law,” QNA said.
The warning comes after the Israeli military said on Thursday it struck the Russian-built Bushehr facility, but later said the comment was made by mistake. Bushehr is Iran’s only operating nuclear power plant, which sits on the Gulf coast.
The potential consequences of an attack on the plant – contaminating the air and water – have long been a concern in the Gulf states.
On Friday, Grossi said in a worst-case scenario, a strike on Bushehr – which contains “thousands of kilogrammes of nuclear material” – would require evacuation orders to be issued for areas within several hundred kilometres of the plant, including population centres in other Gulf countries.
