In yet another call for ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, stated that “crimes against humanity” are being committed in Gaza.
During a summit of Turkic States in the Kazakh capital Astana, Erdogan said, “There is no concept that could explain or excuse the brutality that we have witnessed since 7 October.”
“To put it bluntly: crimes against humanity have been committed in Gaza for exactly 28 days,” he said.
Erdogan has strongly supported the Palestinians in the face of Israel‘s war with Hamas, attending pro-Palestinian rallies and positioning himself as a mediator since the war began on October 7.
Erdogan emphasized, “Our priority is to establish a humanitarian ceasefire quickly,” adding that Turkey was working on “new mechanisms that will guarantee the security of everyone, regardless of whether they are Muslims, Christians or Jews.
“Our efforts to lay the groundwork for an international peace conference continue,” he said.
Earlier, Ireland’s Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, once again criticised Israel’s actions in Gaza.
“I strongly believe that … Israel has the right to defend itself, has the right to go after Hamas, that they cannot do this again. What I’m seeing unfolding at the moment isn’t just self-defence.
“It looks, resembles, something more approaching revenge. That’s not where we should be. And I don’t think that’s how Israel will guarantee future freedom and future security.”
Leo Varadkar
Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) warned on Friday that there was a real risk of a regional spillover from the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
“As we continue working to stop this war we cannot ignore the wider context and the necessity to turn down the regional temperature that is approaching a boiling point,” Noura al-Kaabi, the UAE Minister of state for foreign affairs, told a policy conference in the capital, Abu Dhabi.
“The risk of regional spillover and further escalation is real, as well as the risk that extremist groups will take advantage of the situation to advance ideologies that will keep us locked in cycles of violence,” al-Kaabi noted.
Al-Kaabi said the Gulf state, which in 2020 established full diplomatic relations with Israel in a US-brokered deal, is working “relentlessly” to secure a humanitarian ceasefire.
“Every effort must be made to protect civilians and immediately put an end to this conflict,” al-Kaabi added.
At least 9,227 Palestinians, including 3,826 children, have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Hamas-run health ministry in the territory said on Friday.
Gazan Workers In Israel Return
Thousands of cross-border Gazan workers and labourers in Israel and the occupied West Bank were sent back to Gaza on Friday
Some of the workers returned through the Kerem Shalom crossing east of the Rafah border crossing between the besieged Gaza Strip and Egypt, they said.
Every day, hundreds if not thousands of people used to go from Gaza into Israel to work in low-paid jobs.
When the war started on October 7, they were trapped and couldn’t get back.
Instead, they were rounded up not just in Israel itself but also in the occupied West Bank and they were essentially put into camps where they were held.
There were some complaints from human rights groups that this was illegal and that these people were not allowed to contact their families; in fact, no one knew exactly where they were.
The groups went to an Israeli court and just in the last few hours, Israel has started to free some of them. About 3,200 are believed to have been taken to one of the crossings with Gaza near Egypt and told to go back into Gaza.
The office of Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, disclosed on Thursday night, “Israel is severing all contact with Gaza. There will be no more Palestinian workers from Gaza.”
It added, “Those workers from Gaza who were in Israel on the day of the outbreak of the war will be returned to Gaza.”
Workers crossing into the Palestinian territory said they had been detained and ill-treated by Israeli authorities after the Hamas attack on southern Israel.
In a separate post on X, the office of Israeli Prime Minister added that the security cabinet also decided to deduct all funds designated to the besieged territory from Palestinian Authority funds.
READ ALSO: Israeli Army On “Very High Alert”
