ANKARA: Turkiye, along with 53 other signatories, has sent a joint letter to the UN Security Council, urging it to take immediate action to halt weapons and ammunition shipments to Israel,
According to an announcement by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, the letter was signed by 52 countries and two international organisations, and submitted to the UN on November 1, calling for a cessation of arms supplies to Israel.
“We must reiterate at every opportunity that selling weapons to Israel amounts to complicity in genocide,” Fidan said at a news conference in Djibouti, where he attended the third Ministerial Review Conference of Turkiye-Africa Partnership.
Potential ceasefire ‘could affect’ response to Israel
On the other hand, Iran’s president has said that a potential ceasefire between its allies and Israel “could affect the intensity” of Tehran’s response to Israel’s recent strikes on Iranian military sites, AFP reports.
“If they (the Israelis) reconsider their behaviour, accept a ceasefire and stop massacring the oppressed and innocent people of the region, it could affect the intensity and type of our response,” Masoud Pezeshkian said, quoted by state news agency IRNA.
He added that Iran “will not leave unanswered any aggression against its sovereignty and security”, according to the news agency.
In Palestine, ‘children, in particular, are targeted’
UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese has said that Palestinian children are, “in particular, targeted in so many depraved ways — through killing, maiming, starving, torture, terror, depriving them of schools, dreams, future, hope”, Al Jazeera reports.
In a post on X, she said: “Look at the totality of Israel’s conduct, in the totality of the land it unlawfully occupies, against the totality of the Palestinian people living there. And when you see how children, in particular, are targeted … you see the destructive mind and intent at work, in the realisation of a plan that comes from afar.”
HRW urges college admin to protect students’ right to protest
The Human Rights Watch (HRW) and other rights groups have signed an open letter stating that colleges and universities across the US need to respect and protect students’ right to protest in support of Palestinian rights.
The American Civil Liberties Union and Amnesty International have also signed the open letter.
“The groups provide recommendations for colleges and universities to ensure they protect the right to protest on their campuses,” says Human Rights Watch.
“The organisations also urge university administrations to refrain from taking any further measures to suppress student protests on campus, including stopping the use of so-called less lethal weapons and ensuring that coercive police power is used only as a last resort, among other recommendations.”
