ISTANBUL

Here is a rundown of all the news you need to start Tuesday with, including a deadly Israel airstrike in southern Gaza Strip, the US demanding Israel conduct a thorough investigation into Israeli killing of Turkish American activist, and Turkish President Erdogan urging a meeting of the Organization of International Cooperation in support of Palestinians.

TOP STORIES

• Israeli airstrikes in Gaza kill at least 40 Palestinians

Several Palestinians were killed and injured early Tuesday in an Israeli airstrike on a tent encampment in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

The number of victims in the Israeli attack on Al-Mawasi area in southern Gaza Strip climbs to 40, while 60 others wounded, said defense sources.

The strike targeted tents for displaced people in the Al-Mawasi area, according to an Anadolu correspondent.

Israel's ongoing war on the Gaza Strip – now nearly a year old – has killed around 41,100 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured nearly 94,800 others, according to local health authorities.

A continuing blockade of the enclave has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine, leaving much of the region in ruins.

• US expects Israel to 'transparently' share findings on Turkish-American activist's killing

The US on Monday urged Israel to conduct a “swift, thorough, and transparent investigation” into the killing of Turkish-American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi in the occupied West Bank and called on Israel to make their findings public.

“Our understanding is that our partners in Israel are looking into the circumstances of what happened, and we expect them to make their findings public, and whatever those findings are, (we) expect them to be thorough and transparent,” State Department Deputy spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.

However, Patel refrained from condemning Israel, stating that what transpired in the West Bank is “still being determined and adjudicated.”

Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, a dual US and Turkish citizen, was fatally shot by Israeli forces on Friday during a protest against illegal Israeli settlements in Beita, Nablus district of West Bank.

• Organization of Islamic Cooperation should meet 'without further delay' to defend Jerusalem: Turkish President Erdogan
  
  

Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday urged the leaders of the world's majority-Muslim nations to meet at the leadership level “without further delay” to help defend Palestinians and Jerusalem against Israel's attacks, nearly a year into a relentless Israeli offensive that has taken some 41,000 lives. “

“The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), which is tasked with defending the cause of Jerusalem, cannot remain indifferent to these increasingly audacious attacks,” Erdogan said after a Cabinet meeting in the Turkish capital Ankara.

“It's urgent for the organization to convene at the leadership level without further delay and to demonstrate the decisive stance of the Islamic world,” he added.

NEWS IN BRIEF

• Belgium on Monday expressed "deep regret" over Israel's killing of Turkish-American citizen Aysenur Ezgi Eygi in the West Bank, and called for a prompt, transparent, and independent investigation into the killing.
• Palestine Action activists on Monday blocked all entrances to the Elbit Systems-owned Instro Precision factory at Discovery Park in Kent as part of an ongoing campaign to drive the Israeli weapons manufacturer out of Britain.
• The UN human rights chief Volker Turk on Monday said ending the war in Gaza and averting a full-blown regional conflict is an "absolute and urgent priority."
• The US and China held the first video call between their theatre commanders on Monday, US Indo-Pacific Command said.
• The Israeli army mistakenly killed three captives, including two soldiers, during a raid on Gaza in December and concealed it from the public, local media reported Monday.
• A Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Ministerial Council meeting on Monday stressed the need to prepare "a comprehensive plan" on the Palestinian Authority returning to rule the Gaza Strip after Israel's devastating war on the tiny Palestinian enclave comes to an end.
• Egypt and Ethiopia have again raised their long-standing dispute over a dam over the Nile River at the UN, with the two sides making competing claims.
• A growing number of hate crimes targeting Muslims and Palestinians in the US city of Chicago is raising concerns, according to an official at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).