Erdogan calls Hamas "liberation organization" and cancels visit to Israel

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he considered Hamas a liberation group fighting to protect its land, not a terrorist organization. He also announced the cancellation of his visit to Israel due to the deaths of Gazans. This was reported by the Turkish media Hurriyet on Wednesday, October 25.

Erdogan said Turkiye does not condone actions and attacks targeting Gaza civilians, as half of those killed are children and women. Israel is carrying out "one of the most brutal attacks in history," he said.

"Hamas is not a terrorist organization but a liberation group fighting to protect its land... Israel kills children. We can never allow these children to be killed because we had our share of humanity. Once in my life, I shook hands with Netanyahu in America. He abuses our goodwill. We had a project to go to Israel, but we canceled it," the Turkish president said.

According to him, all parties should immediately declare a ceasefire, which means to stop both Israeli attacks and rocket fire against Israel, and create a humanitarian corridor. Erdogan expressed Turkiye's readiness to be the guarantor of the Palestinian side with its political and military presence, and recommended the Palestine-Israel peace conference: "We will not take steps that will not benefit Palestine. We are the Republic of Turkiye, behind which is millennial statesmanship," Erdogan said.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on October 21, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant presented details of Israel's action plan in the Gaza Strip.

Also on October 22, Gallant announced an IDF ground operation to "finally destroy Hamas."

On October 24, two Ukrainian children were killed in the Gaza Strip in a rocket attack.