Erdoğan praises Palestinians’ resilience, expresses solidarity

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday extended a hand of solidarity "to all the Palestinian people who maintain their spirit of resistance” regardless of the difficult circumstances they continue to face.

Speaking at an awards ceremony in Istanbul, Erdoğan said Türkiye has offered to send containers of humanitarian aid to Gaza, including through U.N. mechanisms, but that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rebuffed and refused these initiatives.

The Israeli army has killed more than 71,000 people, most of them women and children, and injured over 171,000 others in a brutal offensive since October 2023 that has left the Gaza Strip in ruins.

Despite a ceasefire that began last Oct. 10, the Israeli army has continued its attacks, killing 424 Palestinians and wounding 1,189 others, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.