Kenya's Defense Chief General Francis Omondi Ogolla and 9 top military officers were killed in a helicopter crash.

Several media outlets including BBC and AFP reported this news around 11:00 PM Bangladesh time on Thursday (April 18) citing the country's police source.

A senior Kenyan police officer told AFP the helicopter caught fire shortly after takeoff, killing nine senior commanders, including General Ogolla.

According to the BBC report, Kenyan President William Ruto called an emergency meeting of the country's Security Council after the military helicopter crashed. His spokesperson confirmed the matter.

According to local media, all those on the helicopter were senior military officers. Among them was General Francis Ogolla, Chief Military Adviser to the President. However, the BBC could not verify the authenticity of these reports.

According to reports, the helicopter came down in Kenya's Rift Valley and burst into flames. Rescue teams have been sent to the accident site.

Kenyan President William Ruto said an investigation team has been sent to the scene to investigate the cause of the helicopter crash.

"Our motherland has lost one of its most valiant generals," he said. General Ogolla's death is an irreparable loss to us.

Ogolla joined the Kenya Defense Forces in 1984. He was trained as a fighter pilot with the United States Air Force and as an instructor pilot with the Kenya Air Force (KAF). Ogolla was the Chief of the Kenyan Air Force before becoming the Deputy Military Chief. Last year, the country's president promoted him to become the army chief.

The United States has blocked Palestine's path to full membership as a state in the United Nations.

On Thursday (April 18), the country vetoed the resolution in the Security Council.

The draft resolution recommended to the 193-member UN General Assembly that Palestine be admitted as a full member of the United Nations. 12 of the 15 members of the Security Council voted in favor of the resolution. The United Kingdom and Switzerland abstained from voting. Israel's close ally, the United States, provided the veto.

Regarding the veto, US Ambassador to the United Nations Robert Wood said the US continues to strongly support the Israeli-Palestinian two-state solution. The vote does not reflect opposition to Palestinian statehood. We want them to come to a solution through direct negotiations.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the US veto as unjust, immoral and unreasonable. In a statement, he said, the US veto defies the will of the international community.

Israel's Foreign Minister Israel Katz praised the United States for vetoing the proposal, saying it was a "shameful rejection". Terrorism will not be rewarded.

Although Palestine is not currently a member of the United Nations, in 2012 it gained observer status at the United Nations. Palestine has been trying for years to gain full membership of the United Nations.

However, their request must first be approved by the Security Council and then at least two-thirds of the UN General Assembly.

Palestine first applied for full membership in 2011. Palestine reapplied for membership earlier this month amid Israel's military campaign in Gaza.

A vote will be held today in the Security Council, the most powerful body of the UN on whether to recommend Palestine's name for full membership. Voting will take place on Friday at 3pm New York local time.

This information was reported by the Reuters news agency on Thursday (April 18).

According to the report, according to the UN Charter, if a country wants to become a member of this organization, it must first obtain the recommendation of the Security Council in favor of the application. The UN General Assembly will only consider granting the country membership if that recommendation is attached to the application.

Palestine can win the Security Council's recommendation if at least 9 members of the Security Council vote in favor in Friday's vote, and if none of the five permanent members — the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia and China — veto the resolution.

It should be noted that in a briefing after the meeting of the Security Council on April 8, Malta's UN Ambassador Vanessa Frazier said that the Security Council will decide on the recommendation for Palestine for full membership of the United Nations this April.

Earlier, Reuters reported that on Wednesday, non-permanent member state Algeria presented a draft proposal for a vote on the recommendation of Palestine's full membership. Later in Thursday's meeting, the polling day was fixed. Ministers and ambassadors of various Middle Eastern countries were present in the meeting.

Incidentally, after many years of lobbying for full membership, Palestine was allowed to enter the United Nations as an 'observer' in 2011. Countries or territories in this category may participate in discussions in the UN General Assembly, but they do not have the power to vote for or against any resolution raised.

Palestine wants an independent state comprising the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. But these 3 territories are controlled by Israel since 1967.

In the peaceful two-state solution, the Security Council has been supporting and promoting the formation of two independent and sovereign states in the Al-Aqsa region of the Middle East in the past few decades, namely "Palestine" and "Israel". In 1990, representatives of Palestine and Israel signed a document on this issue in Oslo, the capital of Norway.

Palestine has resumed its bid for full membership after the Israeli military operation in Gaza began on October 7, and a crucial phase of the bid will conclude on Friday with a Security Council vote. 

Tel Aviv-based KAN News claimed that Saudi Arabia and Jordan participated in a defense alliance with Israel to prevent Iran's attack. However, both countries denied this claim. Political analysts think that Israel has involved the name of Saudi-Jordan with the intention of spreading war in the Middle East.

On Tuesday (April 16), the country's state-owned newspaper Al-Arabia reported that Saudi Arabia was not involved in preventing Iran's attack on Israeli territory last Saturday (April 13) night, according to a source close to the Saudi government. Jordan also claimed the same.

According to the report of Arab News, the news published a day ago by the Israeli media, citing a Saudi Arabian official website, said that Saudi Arabia has participated in a defense alliance to protect Israel from an attack by Iran. But Saudi Arabia's state sources have denied this information.

Earlier, the website said, Saudi Arabia has cooperated with a military coalition consisting of Israel, the United States, Jordan, the United Kingdom and France, in addition to using its own air defense systems to destroy drones and missiles fired by Iran.

The reason behind the cooperation, according to the report, is that Saudi Arabia believes that Iran has been planning to take advantage of the conflict in Gaza since the start of the conflict and that the recent attacks carried out by Tehran are part of that plan.

Several Saudi sources told Al-Arabiya that the website citing Saudi participation in preventing attacks by Iran against Israel does not actually exist in Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, Amman-based military analyst Mahmoud Ridasad said about the happy news in the Israeli media that Jordan had helped; it is nothing but Israeli propaganda.

It should be noted that on April 13, Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) fired hundreds of drones and missiles at Israeli territory. Before that, on April 1, Israel attacked the Iranian consulate building in Damascus, the capital of Syria. Several military officers including Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, the senior commander of Quds Force, the elite wing of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, were killed in the attack.

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said the Middle East cannot afford another war. So alleviating the tension here will be everyone's priority.

He said these things in a press conference on Tuesday (April 16) on the eve of his visit to Islamabad.

Meanwhile, Israel's Western allies, including France, Germany, and Britain, have asked for restraint, but Israel's army chief Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi has vowed to respond to Iran's attack.

And Iran says that any attack on them will be met with a terrible response. The country's deputy foreign minister, Ali Bagheri Kani, said the response would be within seconds. In this case, Iran will use weapons that have never been used before.