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Live Update: Russia’s “Special Operation” in Ukraine; Day 445

By
IFP Media Wire
-
Russia Ukraine War

Berlin will continue to support Ukraine to ensure Russia is “held accountable”: Scholz

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday reaffirmed Berlin’s support for Ukraine “for as long as it is necessary” in its fight against Russia’s invasion and stressed that those responsible for the war “must be held accountable.”

“No city in the world is allowed to invade another country, commit murder and plunder it. Therefore, we support our partner to ensure that Russia is held accountable for its crimes,” said Scholz while speaking at a joint press conference alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is visiting Berlin for the first time since Russia’s invasion began.

“Our support is not only humanitarian but also political, financial and of course also with weapons. I have often said this, and I will repeat it here: We will support you for as long as it is necessary,” he added.

Scholz also stated he was looking forward to traveling with the Ukrainian leader to the German city of Aachen later on Sunday, where Zelensky will collect the International Charlemagne Prize, awarded for work done in service of European unification.

“Who, if not the Ukrainians, deserve the prize this year?” Scholz continued.

“This terrible war has had horrific geopolitical consequences. Our solidarity is strong. The years-long relationship between our two countries has only grown stronger in the face of this conflict,” he said.

Zelensky thanks Germany for weapons and support

Speaking in Berlin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for his country’s support in the fight against Russia, saying that Kyiv would always be grateful.

It is the Ukrainian leader’s first visit to Germany since the war began.

“I want to emphasize that Ukraine needs help [in] its defense, defense of life, protection of lives of our people in cities and villages everywhere, which helps to protect lives, in particular your defense system,” Zelensky told reporters.

Zelensky added that “Germany leadership can make the world safer, the more cooperation will have among us for the peace, the more Germany will become a leader in protection of the peace, the more stability we will have in international relations.”

Zelensky said that “Germany [is] on the second spot after the US supporting Ukraine,” and in his meeting they discussed “the ability of our troops to return freedom to our people.”

The Ukrainain president stated that they discussed being part of “European and Euro-Atlantic structures. We agreed on that. We agreed on our program of developing cooperation and relations.”

On Saturday, Germany announced a $3 billion military aid package for Ukraine in its largest show of support for the country since the war began. This followed the US’ announcement of a $1.2 billion aid package on Tuesday.

Zelensky arrives in Berlin

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a Twitter post early on Sunday that he had arrived to Germany’s capital Berlin.

“Already in Berlin,” he wrote.

Germany’s N-TV television news chanel reported earlier that the Ukrainian president was scheduled to visit the country on May 13. His plane was supposed to land in the military section of Berlin Brandenburg Airport Willy Brandt.

According to the report, Zelensky will meet with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. After that, he will travel to the city of Aachen to receive the Charlemagne Prize.

Germany will provide Ukraine with additional military aid worth almost $3bn, including tanks, anti-aircraft systems and ammunition, the government has announced.

First steps in Ukrainian counteroffensive “will be taken soon”: Zelensky

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky stated the “first important steps” of a highly anticipated military counteroffensive against Russian forces “will be taken soon.”

“We are preparing very seriously, and there will definitely be very serious steps,” Zelensky said in a conversation with top editors of Italian media in Rome on Saturday.

“I know that we are all motivated, and not only those who know this plan, but our people … I cannot tell you (when). But you will definitely see it, and Russia will definitely feel it,” he continued, adding, “… We believe in victory and believe that the first important steps will be taken soon.”

Ukrainian forces have begun “shaping” operations in advance of the expected counteroffensive, a senior US military official and senior Western official told CNN.

Shaping involves striking targets such as weapons depots, command centers and armor and artillery systems to prepare the battlefield for advancing forces. It’s a standard tactic made prior to major combined operations.

Zelensky said on Thursday that his country still needs “a bit more time” before it launches a counteroffensive, in order to allow some more of the promised Western military aid to arrive.

2 killed, several wounded in Russian shelling of eastern city of Kostiantynivka: Regional authorities

Two people have been killed – including a 15-year-old girl – and several others wounded as a result of Russian shelling on the eastern city of Kostiantynivka on Saturday, the Donetsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office said in a Telegram post.

“The occupation forces of the Russian Federation once again fired on Kostiantynivka,” it said.

“As a result of the occupiers’ attack on the settlement, two residents were killed, including a 15-year-old girl. Ten people also sustained injuries of varying severity, including two teenagers aged 15 and 16. They were taken to a hospital for qualified medical care,” according to the post.

Multi-story and private houses, a gas station, a pharmacy and shops were “damaged or destroyed,” the regional authorities added, noting that “pre-trial investigations are ongoing.”

Zelensky thanks Pope Francis for his “personal attention” to war in Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Pope Francis for giving “personal attention” to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, after meeting with the pontiff in Rome for the first time on Saturday.

“I emphasized there are tens of thousands of deported children, we must make every effort to bring them home,” Zelensky said in a statement posted across his social media pages.

“In addition, I asked him to condemn Russian crimes in Ukraine. There can be no equality between victim and aggressor,” he added.

The International Criminal Court in March issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian official Maria Lvova-Belova for an alleged scheme to deport Ukrainian children to Russia.

Zelensky also spoke to the Pope about his 10-point peace plan, saying it is “the only effective algorithm for achieving a just peace.”

After the meeting, Zelensky told top editors of the Italian media in Rome that the Vatican sent a signal of support for the plan.

“This is important, and we are also supported by the Italian government, and many different countries,” he continued.

He added that Ukraine doesn’t need a mediator in any potential talks with Russia.

“With all due respect to his Holiness … the issue is that we don’t need a mediator between Ukraine and an aggressor-country that has occupied our territories,” he said, noting, “We need to come up with an action plan to develop a fair peace in Ukraine and then we will invite the Vatican as one of the leaders to this format.”

Pope Francis assures “his constant prayer” for peace during meeting with Zelensky: Vatican

The Saturday meeting between Pope Francis and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has ended, according to a statement from the Vatican Press office.

During the 40-minute meeting, Zelensky and Pope Francis spoke about the humanitarian and political situation in Ukraine caused by the ongoing war, the Vatican said.

“The Pope has assured his constant prayer, witnessed by his many public appeals and continuous invocation to the Lord for peace, since February of last year,” the Vatican press office announced.

“Both agreed on the need to continue humanitarian efforts to support the population,” it added.

Pope Francis also stressed the need for “human gestures” toward victims of the war, according to the statement.

It was the first face-to-face meeting between Zelensky and the Pope since Russia’s full-scale invasion began. The pontiff has been outspoken in his support for an end to the conflict.

Italian prime minister pledges continued support for Ukraine to join NATO following meeting with Zelensky

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni pledged unwavering support to Ukraine, saying Italy was ready to support its partnership with NATO, after what Meloni described as a “long and fruitful” meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky at Rome’s Palazzo Chigi on Saturday.

“We are ready to support a further intensification of Ukraine’s partnership with NATO, we will discuss it in Vilnius at the July summit; it will probably be the central theme,” Meloni said.

“For as long as needed, and beyond, our nation will continue to provide bilateral and multilateral assistance, and there will be our staunch adherence to sanctions enforcement arrangements and our support for peace, provided it is a just peace,” she added.

Meloni stated she believes Ukraine will win the war and will be “reborn stronger” and “more prosperous than before.”

The prime minister went on to blame Russia in some of the strongest language her government has delivered on the conflict. She said peace will only come when “Russia ceases hostilities,” calling on Moscow to withdraw its troops.

“We are in favor of a diplomatic solution to the conflict,” Meloni continued, adding, “We support President Zelensky’s 10-point peace formula. And we recognize the legitimate European aspirations of Ukraine, an outpost of security for the entire European continent.”

She added that she was happy Zelensky visited Pope Francis, and concluded her speech by emphasizing Italy’s continued support to Ukraine.

“We’re betting on Ukraine’s victory,” she said.

Zelensky thanked the Ukrainian population that had gathered in the streets waving Ukraine’s flag and invited Italian political leaders and representatives to visit his country.

Zelensky discusses the “importance of Ukraine’s victory” with Italy’s president during visit

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke to Italian President Sergio Mattarella about “the war and the importance of Ukraine’s victory” on Saturday, according to Zelensky’s chief of staff.

“In Rome, despite the rain, there are a lot of people on the streets, and we feel a lot of support for Ukraine,” Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak said on Telegram.

“Much attention was also paid to the issue of abductions of Ukrainian children by Russia. This must be stopped, the children must be returned home, and the Russians must be punished,” he added.

Zelensky arrived in Italy on Saturday to meet Mattarella and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome.

The Ukrainian president is also set to meet Pope Francis at the Vatican.

In March, Russian President Vladimir Putin and a senior official, Maria Lvova-Belova, were charged with war crimes by the International Criminal Court on allegations of widespread forced deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia.

Ukraine recently estimated the total number of children forcibly removed from their homes is at least 20,000. Kyiv has said thousands of cases are already under investigation.

Russia has denied it is doing anything illegal, claiming it is bringing Ukrainian children to safety.

Palestine says hundreds displaced by Israeli onslaught

By
IFP Media Wire
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Israel Gaza

The Ministry of Social Development in the besieged coastal enclave has announced that 784 people have been internally displaced.

The latest round of Israeli air raids destroyed 15 residential blocks, containing more than 50 apartments, the Gaza interior ministry has reported. In addition, 940 buildings have been damaged, 49 beyond repair.

Eyad al-Bozom, spokesman for the interior ministry, has rejected the Israeli allegation that they make every feasible measure to mitigate harm to civilians as much as possible, saying they meant to “justify their crimes against innocent civilians”.

“We stress that the residential blocks destroyed by the occupation were inhabited by civilians. Allegations by the occupation that these houses contained military targets are false and incorrect,” al-Bozom added.

The Ministry of Social Development also said that 94 families, comprising 535 people, have had their sources of livelihood affected by the Israeli shelling.

Families who have lost their only source of income include owners of stalls, day labourers, and the owners of shops that were destroyed, among others.

Gaza already suffers from a 60 percent poverty rate and a 44 percent unemployment rate.

In a statement, the ministry announced it has provided more than $26,000 worth of financial and humanitarian assistance to 268 affected families across the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian Energy and Natural Resources Authority in the Gaza Strip has also warned that the state of the energy sector was dire due to the Israeli offensive – now in its fifth day.

“The ongoing situation portends an imminent humanitarian catastrophe, in light of the closure of crossings, and the cessation of the entry of fuel needed to operate the power plant,” the authority said in a statement.

“The only power plant in the strip does not produce the required energy due to the blockade imposed 16 years ago. The plant will now be forced to shut down because of the lack of fuel, which will lead to a deterioration in the humanitarian situation,” the authority added.

The supply of fuel has been on halt since Tuesday, when Israeli authorities shut down the only commercial crossing of Karem Abu Salem, known as Kerem Shalom to Israelis with the Gaza Strip, in conjunction with the continuing attack against the coastal enclave.

Israeli authorities continue to prevent the entry of trucks of goods, basic materials, medicines and fuel to the sole power plant, which is threatened to stop by tomorrow Sunday.

The Israeli authorities also continue to close the Beit Hanoun/Erez crossing to individuals, especially humanitarian cases, patients and workers.

“The current reality portends a humanitarian catastrophe at all levels and on vital sectors such as the health sector, the cessation of medical services that need a continuous source of electricity without interruption, and the services provided to citizens such as water, electricity, sewage treatment, and others,” the authority announced.

Israel has ruled out an immediate truce in Gaza, saying the onus was on Palestinian armed groups to stop launching rockets from an arsenal it suggested could be depleted within days, while its aircraft kept up attacks in the enclave.

“We’re not holding ceasefire talks,” National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi told a municipal event near Jerusalem, adding that Israel’s top priority was presently firing on fighters.

On its side, Islamic Jihad’s armed wing stressed it would press on with rocket salvoes as fighting continues.

“The resistance prepared itself for months of confrontation,” it announced in a statement.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh has called on the United Nations to urgently intervene to stop the Israeli assaults on the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

In a statement released by the government news agency Wafa, Shtayyeh also called for activating international laws to boycott Israel for its crimes against humanity, and not to allow the perpetrators to go unpunished.

The prime minister said the crimes committed by the Israeli occupation forces this morning in Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus, and the continuing aggression on the Gaza Strip are an extension to the killing and displacement policies against Palestinians during the Nakba in 1948, whose 75th anniversary is currently being observed.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the official spokesman for the presidency, has stated that Israel and the United States are responsible for the deterioration of security in the occupied territories.

Abu Rudeineh held the Israeli government responsible for serious crimes committed across the Palestinian territories, which, he warned, will have repercussions on the stability of the entire region.

He added that the US administration also bears responsibility for remaining silent about Israeli crimes and for its failure to immediately intervene.

At least 33 Palestinians, including children, have been killed and 150 wounded in the besieged enclave since the bombardment started on Tuesday. In retaliation, at least 1,000 rockets have been fired from the besieged enclave towards the occupied territories. Two Israelis have died in rocket attacks.

Ahead of election, Erdogan accuses opposition of working with Biden to topple him

By
IFP Media Wire
-
Turkey Erdogan

Polls show Erdogan trailing the main opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu a day ahead of one of the most consequential elections in Turkey’s modern history. However, if neither of them win more than 50% of the vote and secure an outright win, the vote will go to a runoff on May 28.

Voters will also elect a new parliament, likely a tight race between the People’s Alliance comprising Erdogan’s conservative Islamist-rooted AK Party (AKP) and the nationalist MHP and others, and Kilicdaroglu’s Nation Alliance formed of six opposition parties, including his secularist Republican People’s Party (CHP), established by Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Polls will open at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) and close at 5 p.m. (1400 GMT). By late on Sunday there could be a good indication of whether there will be a runoff vote for the presidency.

Erdogan’s campaign over the past month has focused on his government’s achievements in the defence industry and infrastructure projects, and his assertion that the opposition would roll back such developments.

One of his talking points has been that the opposition is receiving orders from the West, and that they will bow down to Western nations’ wishes if elected.

At a rally in Istanbul’s Umraniye district, Erdogan recalled comments made by Biden and published by the New York Times in January 2020, when he was campaigning for the White House. At that time, Biden said Washington should encourage Erdogan’s opponents to defeat him electorally, stressing he should not be ousted in a coup.

The comments, which resurfaced later that year in a video that made Biden the most popular topic on Twitter in Turkey, were condemned by Ankara at the time as “interventionist.”

“Biden gave the order to topple Erdogan, I know this. All my people know this,” stated Erdogan, 69.

“If that is the case, then the ballots tomorrow will give a response to Biden too,” he added.

Erdogan also criticised Kilicdaroglu for his comments on Russia, calling Moscow an important partner for Turkey.

“Russia has been one of our most important allies regarding agriculture products,” he stressed.

Turkey’s Western allies have been irked by closer ties between Ankara and Moscow under Erdogan. Turkey is a member of NATO, which has stood staunchly behind Kyiv since Moscow invaded its neighbour last year but it has not imposed sanctions on Russia.

Kilicdaroglu told Reuters on Friday that his party has concrete evidence of Russia’s responsibility for the release of “deep fake” online content ahead of Sunday’s elections. He did not present the evidence and Reuters could not independently verify it.

But he added that if he wins the presidency he will maintain Ankara’s good ties with Moscow.

Anticipation and excitement are running high among Turks in the lead-up to the vote with some concerned about rising tensions, even violence, when the results come in.

While there has been concern about how Erdogan might react if he loses, the president said in a televised interview on Friday that he would accept the outcome of the election, no matter the result.

Kilicdaroglu, a 74-year-old former civil servant, did not hold a rally on Saturday but visited Ataturk’s mausoleum in Ankara. He was accompanied by crowds of his supporters each carrying a single carnation to lay on the tomb.

The president’s re-election efforts have relied heavily on accusing the opposition of cooperating with Kurdish militants and those Ankara holds responsible for a 2016 coup attempt.

Kilicdaroglu is a “separatist,” Erdogan later stated in Kasimpasa, an AK Party stronghold where he grew up.

“Whatever the terrorists in Qandil are, unfortunately, that is what (Kilicdaroglu) is,” he added, referring to the location where leaders of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) are based.

Kilicdaroglu has denied such accusations.

Tension has risen in the days leading up to the election, with Kilicdaroglu wearing a bulletproof vest to his rallies on Friday in response to intelligence his party received about an attack.

Russian aircraft, helicopter crash near Ukraine’s border

By
IFP Media Wire
-
Su-34 fighter jet

The agency provided no details on casualties, saying the authorities are working to clarify the situation.

The Telegram channel Baza released a video of a purported crash site, showing what appears to be the aircraft’s tail and engine engulfed in flames.

Mash Telegram channel reported that the Su-34 went down near the village of Istrovka north of the Ukrainian border, claiming that its crew – a pilot and navigator – were killed.

Earlier on Saturday, a helicopter crashed in the same region. According to Baza, the local authorities are conducting an operation in search of the culprits, who could have played a role in both incidents, adding that the helicopter and the fighter jet could have been downed by agents acting on Russian soil.

Both incidents come after a Russian Mi-28 attack helicopter crashed over the Crimean Peninsula on Friday. Both of its pilots were killed. Moscow’s Ministry of Defense said the aircraft was on a training flight and had no ammunition aboard, adding that the crash did not result in any other casualties or damage on the ground.

Iran registers 4 COVID-19 deaths in 24 hours, toll tops 146,200

By
IFP Media Wire
-
COVID in Iran

“A sum of 89 new patients infected with COVID-19 have been identified in the country based on confirmed diagnosis criteria during the past 24 hours,” the Iranian Health Ministry’s Public Relations Center said on Saturday, and added, “52 patients have been hospitalized during the same time span.”

It further announced that the total number of COVID-19 patients has increased to 7,610,676.

“Unfortunately, four patients have lost their lives in the past 24 hours, increasing the number of the dead to 146,204,” the ministry noted.

It expressed satisfaction that 7,363,557 coronavirus patients have recovered or been discharged from hospitals so far.

The center went on to say that 394 cases infected with COVID-19 are in critical conditions.

It added that 56,527,149 coronavirus diagnosis tests have so far been carried out across the country.

The health ministry public relations warned that 11 cities are orange, 146 cities are yellow, and 291 cities are blue.

Iran crowned champions at 2023 Asian Weightlifting

By
IFP Media Wire
-

At the end of the 2023 Asian Weightlifting Championships in South Korea, Iran’s national team won the championship with 635 points in the team ranking.

With 631 and 608 points, Uzbekistan and China stood in second and third places respectively.

Iran’s national team scooped 2 gold, 3 silver, and 5 bronze medals in the competition.

Hossein Soltani won 2 golds and a silver in the 81 kg weight category, while Ayat Sharifi and Alireza Yousefi gained a silver medal each in the super-heavyweight category.

Mostafa javadi won two bronze medals in the 89 kg weight category and Mehdi Karami gained a bronze medal in the 109 kg weight class.

Fatemeh Keshavarz snatched 2 bronzes in the 64 kg weight category.

Some 10 male and 5 female weightlifters represented Iran at the sporting event which kicked off on May 5 and wrapped up on May 13.

IRGC vessels equipped with cruise missiles with range of 2,000 km: Commander

By
IFP Editorial Staff
-
IRGC Boat

Tangsiri told Tasnim news agency on Saturday that launchers for domestically-developed Qadr-474 cruise missiles had been mounted on two classes of IRGC Navy vessels, namely Shahid Mahdavi and Shahid Soleimani.

He said that the Shahid Soleimani-class vessels had also been equipped with 12 vertical-launch Navvab missiles. Shahid Mahdavi-class vessels had received four. The Iranian commander said more vessels would be receiving the Navvab missile.

He said four new vessels in the Shahid Soleimani class would be unveiled in the current Iranian calendar year.

Ashura and Zolfaqar vessels had also been equipped with Kosar-200 and Kosar-222 defense missile systems.

The former missile has a range of between five and seven kilometers, and the latter 17.

Notably, Tangsiri said that a runway of 180 meters in length had been built on the Shahid Bahman Baqeri vessel.

The IRGC Navy commander said the force had recently carried out missions in the Gulf of Aden, in line with a strategy to deploy to oceans.

Earlier, Tangsiri had said that the IRGC Navy was in full command of the Persian Gulf, to the south of Iranian territory. The commander said advanced important military equipment were being developed at the Iranian Defense Ministry by Iranian youths and being handed over to the armed forces.

Israel kills 2 Palestinians in WB, pounds several sites in Gaza

By
IFP Media Wire
-
Israeli Troops in WB

The Palestinian Information Center said on Saturday that the casualties took place after the occupation troops stormed the Balata refugee camp and fired live ammunition on Palestinian residents inside a house.

Palestinian media reported that “undercover” special forces, accompanied by Israeli soldiers, surrounded the house in the al-Jamasin neighborhood in the center of the camp and a number of snipers climbed the roofs of the houses, which led to the outbreak of confrontations.

The Israeli soldiers earlier closed the entrances to the camp and later engaged in violence, including heavy firing of bullets and tear gas canisters.

Palestine’s official Wafa news agency also said the Israeli warplanes targeted with missiles a five-story building belonging to the family of Baha Abu Atta, the former commander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement who was assassinated in a 2019 operation, in the Shujaiya neighborhood east of Gaza and another house in the Yarmouk area in the central Gaza City.

“The house in the Yarmouk area of Gaza was bombed by a missile from a drone, then by two missiles from a warplane, which resulted in its complete destruction,” Wafa added.

The news agency reported that the Israeli airstrikes on the two houses left three people, including a woman, injured and resulted in material damage to some neighboring houses as well as power outages in parts of the two targeted areas.

The occupation warplanes also bombed on Saturday an agricultural land in the vicinity of the popular Firas market in the center of Gaza City.

Moreover, the Israeli strikes targeted agricultural lands near the Fallujah cemetery, east of Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, and another land east of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, without causing any injuries.

It raised the death toll from the Israeli onslaught on Gaza to 33, including three women and six children, while more than 150 have been wounded, some being in critical condition.

The Palestinian resistance factions in the Gaza Strip resumed rocket fire on the occupied territories on Saturday, a few hours after Israeli aircraft bombed targets in the coastal strip.

The bombardment set off sirens in the southern city of Sderot and a number of Israeli communities, sending Israeli settlers to shelters. There were no reports of casualties.

The Israeli regime has been continuously bombarding the strip over the past several days, assassinating several resistance commanders in the besieged Gaza Strip.

In response, Palestinian resistance factions have launched retaliatory strikes toward Israeli cities and settlements.

The Israeli military says so far nearly 1,000 rockets have been fired from the strip.

Islamic Jihad has promised further attacks as Israel continued to bomb the Gaza Strip for a fifth consecutive day.

“As assassinations and the bombing of apartments and safe houses continue, the Palestinian resistance will renew its rocket fire … to emphasize the continuation of the confrontation,” the group said in a statement.

“The resistance prepared itself for months of confrontation,” it added.

Israel’s National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi has said Palestinian Islamic Jihad has 6,000 rockets in its arsenal and Hamas has four times that.

Hanegbi added that Israel was more focused on firing on the Gaza armed group presently than on reaching a ceasefire to end the latest round of cross-border fighting which began on Tuesday.

Jenifer Austin, deputy director of operations at the UNRWA’s Gaza field office warns of a “humanitarian disaster in the making” as attacks continue in the besieged enclave.

Despite the latest flare of violence the UN agencies continues its activities across 22 health care centres in the enclave but the mood among the local population is reaching a breaking point, Austin told Al Jazeera.

“People are not very hopeful. They are at the end of their coping mechanism,” she stated, noting that Gaza has been under a nearly 16-year-long “physical and psychological” blockade.

“This is a humanitarian disaster in the making,” she added, urging both parties to seek a ceasefire.

Dominic Allen, of the United Nations Population Fund for Palestine, has voiced his concern over the effect of the latest flareup of violence on women and girls in the Gaza Strip.

“We are extremely concerned about the impact this is having on exacerbating an already dire humanitarian situation,” Allen told Al Jazeera, speaking from Gaza.

“This is one of the most densely populated areas in the world with a huge amount of vulnerable people,” he continued.

“Our major concern is the impact that this is going to have on the women and girls, especially on pregnant women and domestic violence survivors,” Allen added, noting that Gaza’s healthcare system was already on its knees following a longterm blockade imposed by Israel on the enclave since 2007.

“The latest attacks have only made the situation worse,” Allen stated.

Israeli officials have told local media Egyptian-led efforts to broker a ceasefire are still under way but they ruled out the conditions presented by Islamic Jihad in the talks.

Israel has said only “quiet will be answered with quiet” while Islamic Jihad has been reportedly pressing Israel to agree to halt targeted assassinations, among other demands.

If the rocket fire continues from Gaza, Israeli officials stated “the strikes [on Gaza] will continue and intensify”.

Iran, Iraq extend natural gas agreement for five more years: Min.

By
IFP Editorial Staff
-
Iran Oil Gas

Oji said two standing agreements to export Iranian natural gas to two Iraqi power plants in the capital Baghdad and the southern Iraqi city of Basra were extended for half a decade.

“Fortunately, technical issues to extend the agreements have almost been resolved,” he said.

The Iranian oil minister said the two countries had also agreed to build oil and natural gas pipelines and renovate Iraq’s oil refineries.

Tehran and Baghdad also agreed to exchange information on the exploration and development of joint fields.

“Iran is highly capable in the field of oil and natural gas production and the refinery and petrochemicals industry,” Oji said.

Erdogan says ready to vacate office if loses presidential election

By
IFP Media Wire
-
Erdogan Kilicdaroglu

“We came to power in Turkey democratically. And they way we came to power, we will do everything necessary for democracy if our people decides otherwise (votes for the opposition candidate),” he stated in an interview with the Turkish media ahead of the elections.

“We will consider any election outcome as legitimate,” he added.

He expressed confidence that people would support him and his party at the upcoming polls.

Erdogan has also condemned rival Kemal Kilicdaroglu for claiming without evidence that Moscow is interfering in Turkey’s upcoming elections. Erdogan claimed that the West, and not Russia, is “manipulating the elections in Turkey.”

“[Kilicdaroglu said that] Russia is manipulating the elections in Turkey. Shame on you!” Erdogan told a crowd of supporters in Istanbul on Friday.

In a Twitter post a day earlier, Kilicdaroglu accused the country’s “Russian friends” of being “behind the montages, conspiracies, deep fakes and tapes that were exposed in this country yesterday.”

“Get your hands off the Turkish state,” Kilicdaroglu warned the supposed Russian meddlers.

Kilicdaroglu was likely referring to the publication of a video showing another presidential candidate, Muharrem Ince, allegedly engaging in an extramarital affair. Ince dropped out of the race on Thursday, blaming followers of exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, whose political movement Ankara claims orchestrated a failed coup in 2016.

There is zero evidence linking Russia with the publication or production of the tape, and the Kremlin said that it “firmly rejects” Kilicdaroglu’s claims.

“If I say ‘America is manipulating the elections in Turkey, Germany is manipulating it, France is manipulating it, England is manipulating it’, what would you say?” Erdogan continued, addressing his remarks to Kilicdaroglu.

While Erdogan did not attempt to tie the leak of Ince’s sex tape with any of the Western countries he mentioned, his interior minister, Suleyman Soylu, did. “It is clear who produced it,” he told CNN Turk earlier on Friday.

“The perpetrator is the Gulen movement and the US,” he added.

Soylu claimed that “America has been interfering in this election from the very beginning,” and produced the tape to force Ince out of the race and move his voters to Kilicdaroglu.

Erdogan did, however, accuse Western media outlets of trying to shift public opinion in Turkey against him.

“What do all the magazines say on their covers? ‘Erdogan must go.’ [Those published] in Germany, France and England say so,” he said at Friday’s rally, adding, “How do you put these words on the covers of these magazines? It’s not you, the West! It’s my nation that will decide!”

The presidential election in Turkey will be held on May 14. Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu are the main contenders for the presidency. In order to win, a candidate must secure at least 50% plus one vote. Otherwise, a runoff election will follow on May 28. Analysts don’t rule out such an option.

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