Türkiye has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several senior Israeli officials on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity in connection with Israel’s war in Gaza.

According to a statement released on Friday by the Istanbul prosecutor’s office, arrest warrants have been issued for 37 Israeli officials, including Defence Minister Israel Katz, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir. The full list of suspects was not made public.

The statement accuses Israeli leaders of carrying out “systematic acts of genocide and crimes against humanity” since the war began in October 2023. It cites several incidents, including the October 17, 2023 bombing of Gaza’s al-Ahli Baptist Hospital, which killed about 500 people, and the February 29, 2024 destruction of medical equipment by Israeli soldiers. It also references Israel’s blockade of Gaza and the denial of humanitarian access.

The prosecutor’s office further highlighted the bombing of the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, built by Türkiye in the Gaza Strip, which was struck by Israeli forces in March.

Israel condemned the move as a “publicity stunt.”

“Israel firmly rejects, with contempt, the latest PR stunt by the tyrant [President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar wrote on X.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian group Hamas welcomed Türkiye’s announcement, calling it a “commendable step that reflects the sincere commitment of the Turkish people and their leadership to justice, humanity, and solidarity with our oppressed Palestinian nation.”

The development comes nearly a year after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes. Türkiye also joined South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) last year.

According to Gaza’s health authorities, Israel’s war on the enclave has so far killed at least 68,875 Palestinians and wounded more than 170,000 since October 2023.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Kazakhstan will join the Abraham Accords to have normalized relations between Israel and Muslim-majority nations.

The announcement came after Trump said he had held a call with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Reuters reported.

The Kazakh government said in a statement that the matter was in the final stage of negotiations.

“Our anticipated accession to the Abraham Accords represents a natural and logical continuation of Kazakhstan’s foreign policy course — grounded in dialogue, mutual respect, and regional stability,” it added.

Kazakhstan already has full diplomatic relations and economic ties with Israel, meaning the move would be largely symbolic, something Secretary of State Marco Rubio pushed back against on Thursday.

“It’s an enhanced relationship beyond just diplomatic relations,” he said.

“It is… with all the other countries that are part of the accord. You’re now creating a partnership that brings special and unique economic development on all sorts of issues that they can work on together.”

Trump met with Tokayev alongside four other Central Asian leaders from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan at the White House on Thursday as the U.S. seeks to gain influence in a region long dominated by Russia and increasingly courted by China.

“Some of the countries represented here are going to be joining the Abraham Accords… and those announcements will be made over the next little while,” Trump said.

WITKOFF RETURNING FOR ANNOUNCEMENT

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said earlier at a business forum in Florida that he would be returning to Washington for the announcement, without naming the country.

Axios first reported that the country would be Kazakhstan.

A second source familiar with the matter said the United States hopes that Kazakhstan’s entry will help reinvigorate the Abraham Accords, the expansion of which has been on hold during the Gaza war.

Trump has repeatedly said he wants to expand the accords that he brokered during his first term in the White House.

The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain established ties with Israel in 2020 under the Trump-brokered Abraham Accords. Morocco established ties with Israel later the same year.

Trump has been upbeat about the prospects that regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia will finally join the accords since a ceasefire went into effect in Gaza last month, but Riyadh has shown no willingness to move ahead without at least a pathway to Palestinian statehood.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is expected to visit the White House on November 18.

Other Central Asian countries such as Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, both of which have close ties with Israel, have also been seen as potentially joining the Abraham Accords, which is considered a signature foreign policy achievement of Trump’s first term.

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has issued a sharp ultimatum to U.S. President Donald Trump, warning that Tehran will not engage in any dialogue with Washington unless the United States ends its support for Israel, withdraws its military from the Middle East, and stops interfering in regional affairs.

Speaking in Tehran on Monday during a ceremony marking the anniversary of the 1979 U.S. Embassy takeover, Khamenei accused the United States of “arrogance, imperialism, and hypocrisy,” and said American leaders have always sought to subjugate Iran.

“Every American president has demanded Iran’s surrender, even if they did not say it aloud,” Khamenei said. “The current president said it openly—he revealed the true face of America.”

He added that any future U.S. request for engagement would only be considered after Washington met Tehran’s conditions, Newsweek reported.

“Only if the United States completely cuts its backing for the Zionist regime, removes its military bases from the region, and ceases interfering in its affairs,” Khamenei said, adding that such changes were unlikely “in the near future.”

Khamenei described the 1979 embassy takeover—when Iranian students held 52 U.S. diplomats hostage for 444 days—as “a day of pride and victory.” The event, he said, exposed “the true identity of the American government” and reflected what he called fundamental, not tactical, differences between the two nations.

The seizure followed Washington’s decision to admit the deposed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi for medical treatment, an act that fueled fears of another U.S.-backed attempt to overturn Iran’s revolution.

However, in a CBS 60 Minutes interview aired Sunday, Trump defended his administration’s military actions against Iran, calling them essential for Middle East stability.

“You essentially had a nuclear Iran, and I blasted the hell out of ‘em,” Trump said, claiming that U.S. operations had neutralized Iran’s nuclear capabilities.

He added that curbing Iran’s ambitions was key to continued progress on Arab-Israeli normalization and said American strikes were “measured to deter Tehran while leaving room for diplomacy.”

The exchange underscores a deepening rift between Washington and Tehran at a time of mounting instability in the region. Recent months have seen Israeli attacks on Iranian positions, U.S. strikes on suspected nuclear sites, and a breakdown in diplomatic efforts, Newsweek reported.

Analysts warn that unless either side softens its stance, the current impasse could harden into a prolonged confrontation—raising the risk of renewed military clashes involving the United States, Iran, and their regional allies.