Morning Briefing: Sept. 17, 2025

ISTANBUL

Here is a rundown of all the news you need to start your Wednesday, including Israeli attacks killing dozens of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, a UN inquiry commission finding Israel guilty of committing genocide in Gaza, and the US state of Utah seeking the death penalty for aggravated murder in the Charlie Kirk shooting case.

TOP STORIES​​​​​​​

• Over 100 Palestinians killed in relentless Israeli bombardment in Gaza

More than 100 Palestinians were killed in renewed Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip since dawn, medical sources told Anadolu.

The intensified bombardment came as the Israeli army opened a new phase of its ground offensive in Gaza City as part of a broader strategy to re-occupy the entire city.

Nearly one million Palestinians, most of them displaced from other parts of the enclave, remain trapped in the city under relentless attacks.

The Israeli army has killed nearly 65,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, in Gaza since October 2023.

• Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, UN inquiry commission finds

Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, said in a landmark report.

The commission urged Israel and all states to fulfil their legal obligations under international law to "end the genocide and punish those responsible for it."

After two years of investigations into events since Oct. 7, 2023, the commission concluded that Israeli authorities and security forces committed "four of the five" genocidal acts defined under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide -- killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of Palestinians in whole or in part, and imposing measures intended to prevent births.

• US state of Utah to seek death penalty for aggravated murder in Charlie Kirk shooting case

Prosecutors in the US state of Utah said they will seek the death penalty for Tyler James Robinson, 22, who has been charged with the fatal shooting last week of right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk.

Robinson was charged with aggravated murder, a capital offense, and felony discharge of a firearm causing serious bodily injury. Prosecutors alleged he targeted Kirk for his political views.

Robinson was taken into custody last Thursday in Washington County after relatives alerted law enforcement. A bolt-action rifle and bullet casings with engravings were recovered near the campus of Utah Valley University, where the deadly shooting took place, officials said.

NEWS IN BRIEF

• Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was taken to a hospital in Brasilia after feeling sick, according to his son, Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro.
• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan lambasted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for Israel's attack on the Hamas negotiation team in Qatar last week, saying: "Ideologically, Netanyahu is like a relative of Hitler."
• France strongly condemned Israel's extension and intensification of its offensive in central Gaza City, warning that more than 600,000 civilians remain in the area.
• EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called for sanctions on Israel to pressure the government to end its attacks in Gaza, warning that the humanitarian situation is worsening.
• Syria is working with the US to reach security understandings with Israel in the country’s south, said the Foreign Ministry.
• A 6.0 magnitude earthquake jolted Papua New Guinea's New Ireland region, according to the German Research Center for Geosciences.
• UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres refrained from defining the situation in the Gaza Strip as genocide but described it as "horrendous."
• President Donald Trump said that American forces struck a third boat allegedly smuggling drugs to the US, the latest in a series of attacks that have raised questions over their legality.
• Scottish First Minister John Swinney called on the UK government to take stronger action over the situation in Gaza, urging sanctions against Israel in response to what he described as "genocide."
• Türkiye’s Foreign Ministry condemned Israel’s ground offensive in Gaza City, calling it a “new stage in the Netanyahu government’s genocidal plans.”
• Two British Labour MPs said they were denied entry into Israel while travelling as part of a parliamentary delegation to the occupied West Bank.
• Germany slammed Israel's military offensive to re-occupy Gaza City and warned that any plans to annex Palestinian territories would constitute a violation of international law.
• Spain will not participate in the Eurovision Song Contest if Israel remains in the competition while the war in Gaza continues, the country’s public broadcaster announced.
• Sweden called on its EU partners to increase pressure on Tel Aviv after a UN commission of inquiry concluded that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
• Ships of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla will gather near Malta before sailing together across the Mediterranean toward the Israel-blockaded territory, organizers said.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

• Group of US firms to purchase TikTok following deal with China: Trump

US President Donald Trump said a group of American companies will purchase the social media platform TikTok after he reached a deal with China that will prevent its closure in the US.

Trump did not specify which firms would purchase the social media platform's US operations from China-based ByteDance, but the announcement follows his repeated efforts to delay the halt of its US operations while negotiations continued.

• Microsoft to make $30B AI investment in UK

US-based technology firm Microsoft will invest $30 billion in the artificial intelligence (AI) field in the UK, said its vice chairman and president.

Microsoft's investments will cover AI infrastructure and existing operations across the country between 2025 and 2028, Brad Smith said in a blog entry.

"This marks the largest financial commitment we’ve ever made in the UK,” Smith said.