Türkiye Urges Regional Countries to Take United Stance Against ‘Israel’s Barbaric War’

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan (AFP)
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan (AFP)
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Türkiye Urges Regional Countries to Take United Stance Against ‘Israel’s Barbaric War’

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan (AFP)
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan (AFP)

Türkiye on Monday stressed that it cannot remain silent to the collective targeting of Gaza under the pretext of destroying the Hamas movement, calling on regional countries to take a united stance against Israel's barbarity.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said his country was engaged in busy diplomatic efforts to end the massacres and de-escalate tensions after Israel’s continued attacks against civilians in the Gaza Strip.
At a briefing at the Planning and Budget Committee, Fidan said it is significant that regional countries collectively reacted to Israel.
“We never accept attacks targeting civilians and since the crisis began, we made it clear that the civilians should be absolutely protected. We cannot remain silent to collective targeting of hospitals, schools and mosques in the name of eradicating Hamas,” the Turkish top diplomat said.
Türkiye has sent 11 planeloads of humanitarian aid to Egypt to be delivered to Gaza, said Fidan, adding that a large ship with field hospitals, medical equipment, medicines, and other aid materials has also reached Egypt.
“We have also facilitated the evacuation of 27 patients and 12 attendants from Gaza, and have brought them to Ankara. Additionally, 61 patients and 49 attendants were transferred to Egypt,” he added.
Last Sunday, a group of 87 people, consisting of Turks, Turkish Cypriots and their relatives, arrived in Egypt from Gaza on Sunday and was set to fly to Istanbul late on Monday, the Foreign Ministry said.
In a related development, Turkish Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmus condemned the fact that UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was denied entry to the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing.
Speaking at the first session of the 9th Meeting of Parliament Speakers of MIKTA held in Indonesia, Kurtulmus said, “If oppression against Palestinians cannot be ended ... if this war spreads to neighboring countries, I am afraid that it will ignite a global conflict.”
He therefore underscored the necessity of establishing a new world system characterized by fairness and justice.
The Speaker also stated that the international community has to work with the code of “urgent action” to end the humanitarian sufferings in Gaza.



Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
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Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

Israel’s military ordered the evacuation Saturday of a crowded part of Gaza designated as a humanitarian zone, saying it is planning an operation against Hamas militants in Khan Younis, including parts of Muwasi, a makeshift tent camp where thousands are seeking refuge.

The order comes in response to rocket fire that Israel says originates from the area. It's the second evacuation issued in a week in an area designated for Palestinians fleeing other parts of Gaza. Many Palestinians have been uprooted multiple times in search of safety during Israel's punishing air and ground campaign.

On Monday, after the evacuation order, multiple Israeli airstrikes hit around Khan Younis, killing at least 70 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, citing figures from Nasser Hospital.

The area is part of a 60-square-kilometer (roughly 20-square-mile) “humanitarian zone” to which Israel has been telling Palestinians to flee to throughout the war. Much of the area is blanketed with tent camps that lack sanitation and medical facilities and have limited access to aid, United Nations and humanitarian groups say. About 1.8 million Palestinians are sheltering there, according to Israel's estimates. That's more than half Gaza’s pre-war population of 2.3 million.

The war in Gaza has killed more than 39,100 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The UN estimated in February that some 17,000 children in the territory are now unaccompanied, and the number is likely to have grown since.

The war began with an assault by Hamas fighters on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages. About 115 are still in Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.