File picture of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
| Photo Credit: AP

Turkey has halted all exports and imports to and from Israel, citing the escalating humanitarian situation in Gaza, announced the Turkish Ministry of Trade, Al Jazeera reported.

“Export and import transactions related to Israel have been stopped, covering all products,” the Ministry said in a statement on May 3.

“Turkey will strictly and decisively implement these new measures until the Israeli Government allows an uninterrupted and sufficient flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

“The decision follows remarks by Israel’s foreign minister, who accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of violating agreements by obstructing Israeli imports and exports from ports.

“This is how a dictator behaves, disregarding the interests of the Turkish people and businessmen, and ignoring international trade agreements,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz posted on X.

Mr. Katz disclosed that he has directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to explore alternative trade options with Turkey, focusing on domestic production and imports from other nations. In 2023, the trade volume between the two nations amounted to $6.8 billion.

Last month, Turkey imposed trade restrictions on Israel, alleging Israel’s obstruction of Ankara’s participation in Gaza aid airdrops and its military actions in the region.

When questioned about Turkey’s continued trade relations with Israel despite Ankara’s strong rhetoric, Mr. Erdogan responded last month by stating that Turkey no longer engages in “intense trade” with Israel, asserting, “That is done.”

However, he did not explicitly state that Ankara had completely ceased all trade with Israel, Al Jazeera reported.

Washington:

Security was tight Saturday as the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner kicked off, with President Joe Biden to make what is a traditionally lighthearted address amid protests and boycott calls over the conflict in Gaza.

A long list of VIP guests, including journalists and celebrities from Chris Pine to Molly Ringwald, arrived in black-tie attire as more than 100 protesters outside the Washington Hilton hotel chanted “shame on you” and other slogans while confronting attendees.

At the banquet, in keeping with longstanding tradition — interrupted during the Donald Trump years — Biden was seated on the dais ahead of the evening’s comedy roast, this year to be delivered by Colin Jost of “Saturday Night Live.”

Biden’s every move has been shadowed for months by protesters angry over US support for the Israeli military offensive in Gaza. He has been met by shouts of “Genocide Joe” and noisy calls for an immediate ceasefire.

Protesters at one point unfurled an enormous, multi-story Palestinian flag from a window on the hotel’s top floor, as others congregated on the road below holding placards, chanting and shouting from bullhorns.

More than two dozen Palestinian journalists this week issued an open letter urging their American colleagues to boycott the dinner. 

“You have a unique responsibility to speak truth to power and uphold journalistic integrity,” said the letter. “It is unacceptable to stay silent out of fear or professional concern while journalists in Gaza continue to be detained, tortured and killed for doing our jobs.”

According to the New York-based Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ), at least 97 journalists — including 92 Palestinians — have been killed since war erupted on October 7 with Hamas’s invasion of southern Israel. At least 16 others have been wounded. 

The group Code Pink, part of an anti-war coalition, said it intended to “shut down” the dinner to protest “the complicity of the Biden administration in the targeting and killing of Palestinian journalists by the Israeli military.” 

It said its action would be “non-violent” but offered no details.

The Washington Metropolitan Police Department told AFP it was “prepared to facilitate any safe and peaceful demonstration” but that guests would also be able to access the event.

The gala dinner and a surrounding series of society events are taking place as the Gaza protest movement has been spreading to colleges across the country, and as police crackdowns on some campuses have led to hundreds of arrests. 

Comedian Jost, a longtime writer and actor with NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” was seated next to Biden on the dais as the dinner got underway. His wife, actress Scarlett Johansson, was also in attendance.

The 81-year-old Biden will follow Jost’s roast with his own speech, sure to include some self-mockery, some ribbing of the press and, no doubt, some sharp-elbowed jabs at Trump, his presumptive opponent in November’s presidential election. 

The annual dinner has been organized since 1920 by the influential White House Correspondents’ Association, which honors top reporters and awards journalism scholarships.

Last year, 2,600 people attended.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

People stand outside a mosque destroyed in an Israeli air strike in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Sunday, Oct.8, 2023. The Hamas militants broke out of the blockaded Gaza Strip and rampaged through nearby Israeli communities, taking captives, while Israel’s retaliation strikes levelled buildings in Gaza.
| Photo Credit: Yousef Masoud

Several Israeli media outlets reported on Sunday that the death toll from Hamas’ wide-ranging incursion into Israel has risen to 600.

Israeli soldiers battled Hamas fighters in the streets of southern Israel on Sunday and launched retaliation strikes that levelled buildings in Gaza, while in northern Israel a brief exchange of strikes with Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group raised fears of a broader conflict.

There was still some fighting underway more than 24 hours after an unprecedented surprise attack from Gaza, in which Hamas militants, backed by a volley of thousands of rockets, broke through Israel’s security barrier and rampaged through nearby communities. They took captives back into the coastal Gaza enclave, including women, children and elderly, who they will likely try to trade for thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

At least 600 people have reportedly been killed in Israel — including 44 soldiers — a staggering toll on a scale the country has not experienced in decades. Officials in Gaza said 313 people had died in the territory. An Israeli official said security forces have killed 400 militants and captured dozens more. Civilians paid a staggering cost for the violence on both sides.

Chart 1 | The chart shows the number of Palestinians and Israelis who were killed since 2008 in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel in the context of the occupation and conflict. The latest attack is marked separately.

Charts appear incomplete? Click to remove AMP mode

Chart 1 shows that this is by far the deadliest attack on Israel by a wide margin. It depicts that the number of Palestinians who died in the conflict far outnumber the deaths on the other side every year.

The Israeli military said it had deployed tens of thousands of soldiers around Gaza and was starting to evacuate all Israelis living around the frontier of the territory. The Gaza Strip is an impoverished Palestinian enclave that has been under Israeli blockade since 2007. One of the most densely populated places on the planet, Gaza is home to over two million Palestinians living on a 362sq. km strip of land. It is ruled by Hamas, now at war with Israel for the fifth time in 15 years.

Volatile Gaza

Chart 2 | The chart shows the number of Palestinians and Israelis killed since 2008.

Gaza recorded the most deaths in the region. From Gaza, on Saturday, Hamas militants streamed into Israeli urban areas, including Ashkelon, Sderot, and Ofakim, which is about 22 km away from the city. The attack marked an unprecedented infiltration into Israel by an unknown number of Hamas gunmen crossing from the Gaza Strip.

Israeli media reported gun battles between bands of Palestinian fighters and security forces in towns in southern Israel. Israel’s police chief said there were “21 active scenes’’ in southern Israel.

Map 3 | The map shows the flashpoints of the ongoing conflict.

The UN agency for Palestinian Refugees, UNRWA, said over 20,000 people were sheltering in 44 of its schools around Gaza by Saturday evening. “The number (of displaced) is rapidly increasing, “ said Inas Hamdan, acting public information officer in Gaza. Over the past year, Israel’s far-right government has ramped up settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, Israeli settler violence has displaced hundreds of Palestinians there, and tensions have flared around al-Aqsa mosque, a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site.

Chart 4 | The chart shows the demolition of Palestinian-owned structures and the resulting displacement of people from their homes across the West Bank since 2009.

Source: United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

Also read: Original sin: on the attack on Israel and the occupation of Palestine

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