Turkish president slams Israel over Gaza offensive, urges global action

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday strongly condemned Israel’s relentless military attacks in Gaza, accusing the Israeli government of committing indiscriminate massacres against Palestinians, and also criticized the international community’s silence. “In a state of utter madness, the Israeli government is massacring Palestinians without any distinctions,” Erdogan said during a meeting of a group of parliaments in support of Palestine in Istanbul, Türkiye, referring to the high Gaza death toll of women and children, as well as doctors and foreign and local aid workers. Stating that they have gathered to give voice to Palestine, which has been the cradle of many civilizations and home to many prophets throughout history, Erdogan said that today they are united not only to support a land and its people but also to defend justice, peace, and resistance. Expressing his hope that the meeting and the decisions it takes will benefit Palestine, Erdogan extended his special thanks to all the parliamentarians who see the Palestinian cause as their own and support it. “Alongside all this, the Palestinian cause is, at its core, a struggle to be human and to remain human. It is a matter not only for Muslims but for every person of conscience. Surely, this cause goes beyond politics – it is a matter of conscience,” he said. For months, the “global media and human rights advocates have stood by in silence” while journalists and children have been killed, he added. “More than 7% of the population (of Gaza) has either been killed or maimed. A total of 212 journalists, who were working to report the truth from the ground, have been executed. Just the other day, a female journalist was martyred along with her 10 family members. Hundreds of doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers were targeted by bullets. Aid workers were killed. Babies died right before our eyes due to lack of medicine, water, and food. “We are faced with a group so devoid of humanity that they celebrated their child's birthday by killing Palestinian children. Schools, churches, mosques, and universities were bombed. Nearly 80% of buildings in Gaza have been destroyed. Gaza has been devastated to the point where not a single stone is left standing. We are talking about a massive pile of debris exceeding 50 million tons,” he added. Western ‘double standards’ Accusing Western countries of having double standards, Erdogan said: “In the slightest incident, they are quick to impose sanctions. But I ask, where are they against Israel?” The president said nearly 60,000 Palestinians had been “brutally killed” since Oct. 7, 2023, most of them women and children, and warned that “any proposal that seeks to expel Palestinians from the land they have lived on for thousands of years holds no value for us.” Erdogan underlined the Palestinian cause is “a struggle for dignity” and a stand for “humanity, peace, and justice,” urging the society that “suffered genocide 75 years ago” to raise its voice and tell its leaders to “stop,” clearly referring to the Nazi Holocaust of Jews. He accused those staying silent on the deaths in Gaza of attempting to “normalize genocide” by labeling the Palestinian resistance as "terrorism." “Since Oct. 7, 2023, our brothers and sisters in Gaza and Palestine have been subjected to one of the greatest acts of banditry of the past century,” Erdogan added.