Turkish President Erdogan Urges Ceasefire in Meeting with Hamas Leader Haniyeh: Latest Updates

2024-04-21 14:19:00

Turkey’s president discussed the “urgent need” for a ceasefire with the leader of Hamas

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed the “urgent need” for a ceasefire after meeting with Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh during a meeting in Istanbul, a statement from Erdogan’s office said on Saturday.

The meeting was the first time Haniyeh met with Erdogan since October 7, when Israel began its military invasion of Gaza. Earlier this week, the Hamas leader held talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Doha.

“During the meeting, President Erdoğan said that Turkey continues its diplomatic efforts to draw the attention of the international community to the persecution of Palestinians and emphasized at every opportunity the need to end the attacks and the urgent need to end add to the permanent fire. . ”, according to a statement from the Turkish presidency.

During the meeting, Erdogan also urged the Palestinians to “act in unity” amid Israel’s war against Hamas, saying that the strongest response is through “unity and integrity.”

Erdogan added that Turkey has provided more than 45,000 tons of humanitarian aid to Gaza to “alleviate some of the suffering” and would continue to provide relief efforts.

Commenting on the tension between Israel and Iran, Erdogan emphasized that “these incidents should not give ground to Israel.”

“Efforts must be made to refocus attention on Gaza so as not to spread the atmosphere in the West that questions Israel’s attacks,” the statement said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz criticized the meeting between Erdogan and Haniyeh. In a post on X, Katz described the attacks he said were committed by “the Muslim Brotherhood alliance.” He ended his post by saying: “Erdogan, shame on you.”