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Death Toll of Palestinians In Türkiye-Syria Earthquake Climbs to 73

Palestinian urgent intervention and response team headed Thursday to Syria and Türkiye to help in ongoing rescue efforts (WAFA)
Palestinian urgent intervention and response team headed Thursday to Syria and Türkiye to help in ongoing rescue efforts (WAFA)
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Death Toll of Palestinians In Türkiye-Syria Earthquake Climbs to 73

Palestinian urgent intervention and response team headed Thursday to Syria and Türkiye to help in ongoing rescue efforts (WAFA)
Palestinian urgent intervention and response team headed Thursday to Syria and Türkiye to help in ongoing rescue efforts (WAFA)

The death toll of Palestinians from the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake which hit Türkiye and Syria at dawn last Monday has reached 73 after the bodies of one Palestinian and his wife were recovered from under the rubble in Türkiye on Thursday.

According to the official Palestinian News Agency, WAFA, 22 Palestinians were killed in the deadly earthquake in Türkiye and 51 others in Syria.

Meanwhile, Palestine's Rapid Response and Rescue team, supervised by the Palestinian Agency for International Cooperation (PICA), headed Thursday to both countries to take part in ongoing quake relief efforts.

Local officials said the team of 73 members departed through the Jordanian crossing border. It includes rescuers, doctors, and first-aid providers from the Palestine Red Crescent Society.

“Palestine stands ready to use all its available means to help the brothers in Türkiye and Syria in this calamity,” Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said in a ceremony before the team’s departure.

He said the team will split into two groups, with one heading to Türkiye and the other to Syria.

“Upon their arrival in the areas affected by the earthquake, the Palestinian urgent response team will be working with other international teams working in field hospitals, and will also participate in rescue and evacuation operations in coordination with the relevant authorities in the two countries,” the Minister affirmed.

Also, Palestinian Minister of Awqaf and Religious Affairs Sheikh Hatem Al-Bakri announced that a relief campaign will kick off next Friday for the victims of the earthquake under the slogan “Rescue Them.”

In a press release, he said the campaign will collect donations in mosques after Friday prayers.

“The Ministry of Awqaf will donate $100,000 to the campaign,” he affirmed, adding that the ministry has also formed a committee to arrange the delivery of donations through the Palestinian embassies in Syria and Türkiye, according to the legal procedures.

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US Envoy Reaffirms Backing for Damascus, Rules Out ‘Plan B’

US Ambassador to Türkiye and Special Envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, arrives for a meeting with the Lebanese prime minister at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 07 July 2025. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
US Ambassador to Türkiye and Special Envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, arrives for a meeting with the Lebanese prime minister at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 07 July 2025. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
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US Envoy Reaffirms Backing for Damascus, Rules Out ‘Plan B’

US Ambassador to Türkiye and Special Envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, arrives for a meeting with the Lebanese prime minister at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 07 July 2025. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH
US Ambassador to Türkiye and Special Envoy for Syria, Thomas Barrack, arrives for a meeting with the Lebanese prime minister at the government palace in Beirut, Lebanon, 07 July 2025. EPA/WAEL HAMZEH

The United States will keep backing Syria’s government and has no “Plan B” to working with it to unite the war‑scarred country back together, still reeling from years of civil war and wracked by new sectarian violence, US envoy Tom Barrack said on Monday.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Barrack – Washington’s ambassador to Türkiye and special envoy for Syria, who is also on a short assignment in Lebanon – called last week’s Israeli strikes inside Syria “badly timed” and said they had “complicated efforts to stabilize the region.”

Barrack spoke in Beirut after more than a week of clashes in Sweida province between Druze militiamen and Sunni Bedouin tribes.

Over the weekend he brokered what he described as a limited ceasefire between Syria and Israel, aimed only at halting the fighting in Sweida. Syrian government troops have since redeployed in the area and evacuated civilians from both communities on Monday, he said.

Barrack told the AP that “the killing, the revenge, the massacres on both sides” are “intolerable,” but that “the current government of Syria, in my opinion, has conducted themselves as best they can as a nascent government with very few resources to address the multiplicity of issues that arise in trying to bring a diverse society together.”

Regarding Israel’s strikes on Syria, Barrack said: “The United States was not asked, nor did they participate in that decision, nor was it the United States’ responsibility in matters that Israel feels is for its own self-defense.”

However, he said Israel’s intervention “creates another very confusing chapter” and “came at a very bad time.”

Prior to the violence in Sweida, Israel and Syria had been in talks over security matters, while the Trump administration had been pushing them to move toward full normalization of diplomatic relations.

When the latest fighting erupted, “Israel’s view was that south of Damascus was this questionable zone, so that whatever happened militarily in that zone needed to be agreed upon and discussed with them,” Barrack said. “The new government (in Syria) coming in was not exactly of that belief.”

The ceasefire announced Saturday between Syria and Israel is a limited agreement addressing only the conflict in Sweida, he said. It does not address broader issues including Israel’s contention that the area south of Damascus should be a demilitarized zone.

In the discussions leading up to the ceasefire, Barrack said “both sides did the best they can” to reach agreement on specific questions related to the movement of Syrian forces and equipment from Damascus to Sweida.

He suggested that Israel would prefer to see Syria fragmented and divided rather than a strong central state in control of the country.

Later Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz posted on X that Israel’s strikes “were the only way to stop the massacre of the Druze in Syria, the brothers of our brothers the Israeli Druze”.

Katz added: “Anyone who criticizes the attacks is unaware of the facts,” he continued. It was not clear if he was responding to Barrack’s comments.

Damascus has been negotiating with the Kurdish forces that control much of northeast Syria to implement an agreement that would merge the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces with the new national army.