Hamas delegation visits Turkey, officials condemn 'genocide' in Gaza
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan claimed on Friday, during a meeting with a delegation from Hamas, that Israel is enacting a policy of genocide and that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not serious about reaching a ceasefire deal, according to Turkish state media.
'Gaza is witnessing a genocide that the world is ashamed of," Hamas claimed Fidan told the delegation. "By prolonging the ceasefire negotiations, Israel aims to break the resistance of the Palestinians in Gaza and force them to leave their homes."
Fidan further alleged that Israel was working to expel Palestinians from Gaza and annex the West Bank.
During the meeting in Istanbul, Hamas's delegation, headed by Muhammad Darwish, claimed that insufficient humanitarian aid was reaching the Gaza Strip and condemned Israel's alleged unwillingness to compromise in hostage deal-ceasefire negotiations.
Erdogan issues statements backing Gaza
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan posted on X/Twitter after the meeting concluded, 'To those targeting our government with expressions lacking decency and propriety, I say only this: Who are you to question our sensitivity towards Palestine? Weren't you the ones calling Gazans, who were defending their lands until just yesterday, 'terrorists'? If you were on the side of the oppressed, then where were you for 14 years in Syria?...
'You have never stood by the oppressed. You have never looked at the Middle East through the lens of brotherhood. You have never understood what it means to be part of the ummah, nor have you ever felt this sentiment in your hearts. Now you come forward, criticizing us without looking at your own dark record, criticizing our Cabinet members, shamelessly attacking our ministers.
'...You cannot uproot the love for Turkey, the love for Tayyip Erdoğan, from the hearts of the Palestinian people. You cannot prevent the Turkish nation from embracing its brothers again after a century. Even if you deny it, history is recording our steadfast stance…'
In a follow-up post, Erdogan wrote: 'The crimson door of freedom will surely be opened. Our Gazan brothers and sisters will, God willing, live freely forever in their homeland, on that blessed land watered with the blood of martyrs. When that glorious day arrives, if God grants it, we will be there too.
'...We will embrace our Gazan brothers and sisters with love, hug each other, and, God willing, stand shoulder to shoulder to perform a prayer of gratitude together. Just as in Syria, we will, God willing, witness the end of oppression in Gaza, and we will surely reach those beautiful days. Everything will pass, this oppression will end, this blood will stop, this rubble will be cleared; God willing, Palestine will remain, standing tall in all its grandeur.'
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