Turkish President Recep Erdogan said on Thursday that Israel’s military operation in Gaza in response to Hamas’ terrorist attack on October 7 had become an “atrocity”.
“The attacks on Gaza have long gone beyond self-defense. Now it is oppression, atrocities, massacres and barbarism,” he said in Ankara.
“How many people have to die? How many children? What number is enough for you?” he asked, a day after saying that Hamas is Gaza’s “liberation group.”
The Islamist group Hamas attacked Israel by surprise on October 7, killing around 1,400 people and taking 220 hostages.
In retaliation, Israel has bombed the Gaza Strip and blocked the access of water, fuel and other goods to the area.
According to the UN, the Israeli army has killed more than 6,500 people in Gaza so far.
Erdogan accused Israel of committing “a premeditated crime against humanity” for allegedly attacking civilians in Gaza and said Hamas is not a terrorist organization but “a liberation organization of ‘mujahedin’. [palavra árabe que significa combatente ou alguém que se empenha na luta]who fights to protect his country and its citizens.”
“Lasting peace in the region, which is home to the holy places of the three monotheistic religions, will only be possible with the establishment of an independent country,” Erdogan also stated in his conversation with Pope Francis, in which he called for a sovereign state of Palestine defended. is geographically integrated into the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Source: DN
