Morning Briefing: Aug. 21, 2025

ISTANBUL

Here’s a rundown of all the news you need to start your Thursday, including the Israeli army launching a “new stage” of its offensive to occupy Gaza City after Defense Minister Israel Katz approved the plan, Israel killing 66 civilians, including children, in attacks across the Gaza Strip, Russia calling for “truly reliable” security guarantees for Ukraine, the US sanctioning four ICC judges and deputy prosecutors over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s arrest warrant, and Israel approving a major settlement project dividing the West Bank and isolating East Jerusalem.

TOP STORIES

• Israeli army launches ‘new stage’ of offensive to occupy Gaza City

The Israeli army said it launched a “new phase” of its ongoing offensive to reoccupy Gaza City as Israel escalated its genocidal war on the Palestinian enclave.

“We have begun preliminary operations and the first stages of the attack on Gaza City. Our forces are now holding the outskirts of Gaza City,” military spokesman Effie Defrin told a press conference, adding the army has begun the second phase of its ground assault, codenamed Operation Gideon's Chariots 2.

• Israeli defense minister approves Gaza City occupation plan

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has approved a plan to occupy Gaza City, according to local media.

The public broadcaster KAN said that Katz named the plan Gideon's Chariots 2, after the Operation “Gideon’s Chariots,” a ground offensive that was launched in May to expand occupation of the enclave and fully evacuate Palestinians from northern Gaza.

“As part of the plan, the necessary reserve call-up orders will be issued to carry out the attack,” the broadcaster said, without specifying the number of troops needed.

• Russia in favor of ‘truly reliable’ security guarantees for Ukraine

Russia is in favor of “truly reliable” security guarantees for Ukraine with the participation of countries including China, the US, the UK and France, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

“As for the reports that Great Britain, France and Germany want to create and develop collective security guarantees, we are in favor of these guarantees being truly reliable,” Lavrov told a joint press conference with his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi in Moscow.

• Children among 66 killed, dozens injured in Israeli attacks across Gaza Strip

The Israeli army has killed at least 66 civilians, including children, in attacks across the Gaza Strip amid a military escalation in Gaza City, according to medical sources.

In the latest attacks, the army killed five Palestinians by targeting a gathering of civilians in the Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City.

Earlier, 12 members of a team securing merchants’ supply trucks were killed and 30 Palestinians receiving aid were injured in an Israeli strike near the Zikim crossing in northern Gaza.

A medical source told Anadolu that three people were killed and 10 injured in an Israeli strike on a house in the town of Jabalia al-Nazla in the northern Gaza Strip.

• US sanctions 4 ICC judges, deputy prosecutors over Netanyahu arrest warrant

The US sanctioned four International Criminal Court (ICC) officials, including a judge who authorized the arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

The State Department said the sanctions target “malign efforts by the ICC,” to impose consequences on those engaged in “transgressions against the United States and Israel.”

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added Nicolas Yann Guillou, Nazhat Shameem Khan, Mame Mandiaye Niang and Kimberly Prost to the Specially Designated Nationals list.

The State Department said Guillou was sanctioned for authorizing arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, while Prost faced penalties for approving investigations into US personnel in Afghanistan.

• Israel approves major settlement project dividing occupied West Bank, isolating East Jerusalem

Israel has given final approval to a highly contested settlement project that would divide the occupied West Bank and isolate East Jerusalem.

The Higher Planning Committee of the Civil Administration, a department under Israel’s Defense Ministry, approved the so-called E1 project, which includes the building of more than 3,400 settler homes between Jerusalem and the Ma’ale Adumim settlement in the occupied West Bank, the Times of Israel news outlet said.

NEWS IN BRIEF

• The UN condemned Israel’s approval of thousands of new housing units in the occupied West Bank, calling it a “violation of international law.”
• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussed the outcome of last week's Alaska summit between the US and Russian presidents, trade issues and bilateral relations in a call.
• Iran said that it may “reach a point of discussion” regarding withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in the future.​​​​​​​
• Egypt urged Israel to accept a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner swap deal endorsed by Hamas, stressing the need for a truce and aid.
• Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called for the immediate resumption of direct dialogue between Israel and Palestine to tackle the crisis in the Gaza Strip.
• The International Criminal Court (ICC) rejected new US sanctions targeting four of its judges and deputy prosecutors, calling the measures an assault on judicial independence and the rules-based international order.​​​​​​​
• France said it "learned with dismay” of the US's newly imposed sanctions against four judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC), including a French national, and called for all such measures to be withdrawn.
• Belgium has called for EU protection of the ICC after new US sanctions and reiterated its opposition to the sanctions.
• South Korea’s state-run nuclear power firm has been banned from bidding for new power plant projects in North America and Europe over an intellectual property (IP) dispute, Yonhap News Agency reported.
• A US congressional committee is set to receive and potentially release Justice Department records on Jeffrey Epstein.
• The UK signed a new agreement with Iraq to return illegal migrants as part of wider government efforts to curb small boat crossings.
• German opposition parties rejected sending peacekeeping troops to Ukraine
• China’s top diplomat met with his Afghan counterpart in his second trip to Kabul since 2022
• Nearly 865,000 acres burned in Spain over the past 13 days amid raging wildfires
• South Korea said it will leave behind the era of hostility with North Korea while expressing "regret" over Pyongyang's criticism of Seoul's peace attempts as a "deceptive appeasement offensive."
• Türkiye announced that passport-based crossings have officially begun at its land border gates with Syria as part of a normalization process following the country’s liberation last December.
• Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has appointed Ibrahim Olabi as the country’s new permanent representative to the United Nations, succeeding Qusai al-Dhahhak, who held the post since Dec. 20, 2023.
• Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the southwestern Tibet autonomous region to commemorate its 60th anniversary.
• Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in the Pakistani capital Islamabad for a three-day visit for talks with his counterpart Ishaq Dar, according to Islamabad's Foreign Ministry.
• A group of senators urged the Trump administration to take action over the killing of journalists in Gaza and to press Israel to guarantee press freedoms.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY ​​​​​​​

• Oil rose on a US crude draw as Ukraine peace talks were in focus

• The American Petroleum Institute reported a 2.4 million-barrel inventory decline, exceeding forecasts.
• Energy Exchange Istanbul (EXIST) data shows the electricity market trade volume amounts to 2.32 billion Turkish liras
• The trade volume on Türkiye's spot natural gas market showed an increase of around 60.8% to around 7.8 million Turkish liras, data from Türkiye's Energy Exchange Istanbul (EXIST) showed.

• Japan is hosting a three-day development conference for nearly 50 African nations, aiming to tap into the economic potential of the continent.

• Russia has a “very special mechanism” to maintain crude oil supplies to India despite punishing US tariffs, a senior Russian diplomat posted in New Delhi said.

• The success of Baykar, one of Türkiye’s leading defense firms, in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) exports has propelled its executives to the top of the country’s income taxpayers list for the fourth consecutive year.
• Turkish exports to Syria climbed 54.31% year-on-year in the Dec. 8-Aug. 17 period, Türkiye's Trade Ministry announced.