TURKEY CALLS ON ISRAEL TO IMMEDIATELY HALT GAZA ATTACKS

urkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Image: AA) — urkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Image: AA)

Istanbul, 14 Ramadan 1435/12 July 2014 (MINA) – Turkey’s Prime Minister and presidential candidate Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on Israel to immediately halt its attacks on Gaza which have left more than 100 innocent Palestinians dead.

While presenting his election manifesto at the Halic Congress Center in Istanbul on Friday, Erdogan said that one of three conditions needed to normalize Turkey’s severed relations with Israel was an end to the blockade of Gaza, Anadolu Agency quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

“While our brothers and sisters are being bombed and killed in Palestine and Gaza we cannot normalize relations with Israel,” Erdogan said. “We will continue to loudly voice our support for the Palestinian cause.”

At least 100 Gazans have been killed and hundreds more injured since July 7 in a series of unrelenting Israeli airstrikes that continued on Friday.

Israel claims the offensive is aimed at halting rocket fire emanating from the embattled Gaza Strip, which is home to some 1.8 million Palestinians.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday warned against an imminent land operation against the Gaza Strip.

Abbas says the Palestinian leadership is in continual session and makes contacts at all levels in its bid to offer protection for Gaza against “destruction”

Abbas said the Israeli occupation government had already approved a land operation against the coastal enclave and that the operation can start within few hours, although it has not happened to Saturday.

He said the Israeli occupation army had asked Palestinians living in Gaza’s border area to leave their homes and head inside the strip.

“The Israelis just want to get us out of our land and our country,” Abbas was quoted by the official Palestinian news agency as saying during a meeting in Ramallah with representatives of some institutions from Jerusalem.

“We will not leave, but will continue to resist in a civilized manner, even as we do not have arms,” he added. (T/P09/E01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)