Rabia Ali
27 May 2025•Update: 27 May 2025
ISTANBUL
Here’s a rundown of all the news that you need to start your Tuesday with, including deadly Israeli attacks killing dozens in Gaza, a meeting between Türkiye's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, and Israel’s Ben-Gvir storming Al-Aqsa Mosque triggering global condemnation.
TOP STORIES
- At least 73 people killed in deadly Israeli strikes in Gaza
At least 73 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip on Monday, as Tel Aviv continued its genocidal war on the seaside enclave, medics said.
A medical source told Anadolu that 31 people were killed, including 18 children and six women, when fighter jets struck the Fahmi Al-Jirjawi School, where hundreds of displaced civilians have sheltered in Gaza City’s al-Daraj neighborhood.
A fire swept through the tents following the bombing, said medical and local media.
Eyewitness videos circulated online, showing charred bodies, many of them children, and others crying out as flames consumed their surroundings.
- Türkiye's Foreign Minister Fidan received by Russian President Putin in Moscow
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan was received by Russia's President Vladimir Putin in the Russian capital Moscow on Monday, Turkish diplomatic sources said.
The meeting started at 7.30 pm local time (1630 GMT) and lasted approximately one hour, the sources added.
They said the meeting addressed recent initiatives aimed at ending the war between Ukraine and Russia, as well as developments following peace talks held in Istanbul on May 16.
Putin and Fidan also discussed bilateral issues in the fields of economy and energy.
- Israel’s Ben-Gvir storms Al-Aqsa Mosque to celebrate occupation of East Jerusalem
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Monday stormed the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem to mark the Israeli occupation of the city, triggering a wave of condemnations.
"There are actually a large number of Jews flocking here, and it's a joy to see this," Ben-Gvir said in a video of him inside the mosque complex.
"Today, Jews can pray and prostrate here. We thank God for that," he said.
The extremist minister was joined in his tour by several Israeli ministers, including Minister of the Negev, Galilee and National Resilience Yitzhak Wasserlauf, and Knesset member Yitzhak Kroizer.
NEWS IN BRIEF
- UK police confirmed Monday that a serious incident on Water Street in Liverpool in which a car drove into a crowd of pedestrians is not being treated as terrorism-related.
- German Chancellor Friedrich Merz sharply criticized Israel on Monday for violating international humanitarian law in Gaza and said he would raise these concerns with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week.
- Israeli Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara ruled that the appointment of Maj. Gen. David Zini as the head of Israel’s Shin Bet internal security service is “invalid and unlawful,” The Times of Israel reported Monday.
- Türkiye on Monday condemned far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
- The Palestinian resistance group Hamas accepted a Gaza ceasefire proposal by US Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff, a Palestinian source told Anadolu on Monday.
- North Korea called US President Donald Trump's plan to establish a “Golden Dome” missile defense system a “very dangerous and "threatening initiative," state-run media reported Tuesday.
- The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday warned that most medical supplies have been depleted in Gaza, and nearly half of essential medicines, including painkillers and antibiotics, are no longer available as 51 agency trucks await approval to enter the enclave.
- A former senior army commander testified Monday against South Korea’s ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol during his fifth hearing, Yonhap News Agency reported.
- Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday welcomed the recent ceasefire and restoration of peace between estranged South Asian neighbors India and Pakistan.
- Colombian President Gustavo Petro's government officially appointed Jorge Ivan Ospina as the country’s first ambassador to the State of Palestine on Monday.
- Syrian Defense Minister Maj. Gen. Murhaf Abu Qasra on Monday said that his ministry will build an army with “national military doctrine,” emphasizing that no one will be allowed to operate outside the authority of the ministry.
- US President Donald Trump threatened Monday to redirect $3 billion in federal grants from Harvard University to trade schools across the country, intensifying his administration's pressure campaign against the Ivy League institution.
- The Israeli government is set to approve on Monday an increase of 50,000 reservists, raising the total to 450,000, as part of efforts to expand its genocidal war in the Gaza Strip, Israeli media said.
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
- ASEAN adopts Kuala Lumpur Declaration to navigate technological shifts, geopolitical complexities
The Southeast Asian nations on Monday adopted the Kuala Lumpur Declaration, envisioning a path for the next 20 years, navigating rapid technological shifts, climate imperatives, and rising geopolitical complexities.
The declaration, ASEAN 2045: Our Shared Vision, was adopted at the 46th annual summit of the bloc held in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.
- EU body investigates major agricultural subsidy fraud in Greece
The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), an independent body of the European Union, has launched an investigation into major agricultural subsidy fraud in Greece, local media reported Monday.
The probe, focused on Greece’s Organization for Payments and Control of Community Aid Guidance and Guarantees (OPEKEPE), which administers EU agricultural subsidies in the country, exposed a widespread scheme to defraud the bloc’s funds through fictitious pastureland claims, the local Kathimerini daily reported, citing officials.
