Erdogan says ending war in Gaza a top priority
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says his country and Egypt share the same position on Palestine.
“We are doing all that we can to bring the bloodshed to an end and to continue to deliver the humanitarian aid into Gaza,” he said in Ankara, speaking next to his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
“This remains on the top of our priorities today.”
The Turkish president has said that in addition to dropping thousands of tonnes of bombs on civilians, Israel has continued to exercise a “policy of starvation” in Gaza.
“Each and every Palestinian citizen or child who dies of starvation remains the responsibility of Israel, and those backing Israel,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
He said that some states continue to provide “unconditional support to Israel”, adding that Israel must be “prevented” from “plunging the whole region into war”.
“In this fashion, they are accessories to Israel’s crimes,” Erdogan said. “They are accomplices to their crimes in the massacres and pogroms perpetrated against the civilian population of Gaza.”
Egypt’s el-Sisi calls for ‘immediate’ ceasefire in Gaza
Speaking next to his Turkish counterpart, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi described the situation in Gaza as an “unprecedented catastrophe”.
“I reiterate the joint stand of Egypt and Turkey calling for an immediate ceasefire, rejecting further escalation by Israel in the occupied West Bank, and taking tangible measures to live up to the aspiration of the Palestinian people for the establishment of an independent state based on 1967 borders with [occupied] East Jerusalem as its capital,” he said.
