ANKARAA: Turkish President Recep Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday Ankara “firmly backs” Palestinian militant group Hamas.
“No-one can make us qualify Hamas as a terrorist organization,” he said in a speech in Istanbul. “Turkiye is a country that speaks openly with Hamas leaders and firmly backs them.”
Erdogan has been one of the most virulent critics of Israel since the start of the war in Gaza, which began after an October 7 attack by Hamas in Israel that claimed at least 1,160 lives, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
Israel has responded with a relentless ground and air offensive that the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said has killed at least 30,878 people in the besieged Palestinian enclave, mostly women and children.
Erdogan has called Israel a “terrorist state” and accused it of conducting a “genocide” in Gaza.
Erdogan says Turkiye firmly backs Hamas leaders
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Erdogan says Turkiye firmly backs Hamas leaders
- ‘No-one can make us qualify Hamas as a terrorist organization’
Israel army ‘temporarily suspends’ strike on south Lebanon
- The Israeli military issued a warning earlier on Saturday announcing an imminent strike and warning people in the Yanuh area of south Lebanon to evacuate immediately
JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said it would “temporarily” suspend a strike planned for Saturday that was intended to target what it described as Hezbollah military infrastructure in southern Lebanon.
A November 2024 ceasefire sought to end over a year of fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group, which broke out after the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.
But Israel has repeatedly bombed Lebanon despite the truce, usually saying it is targeting Hezbollah members and infrastructure to stop the group from rearming.
The Israeli military issued a warning earlier on Saturday announcing an imminent strike and warning people in the Yanuh area of south Lebanon to evacuate immediately.
But later Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said “the strike was temporarily suspended,” adding that the military “continues to monitor the target.”
The suspension came after the Lebanese army “requested access again to the specified site... and to address the breach of the agreement,” he said on X.
Adraee added that the military would “not allow” Hezbollah to “redeploy or rearm.”
The year-old ceasefire monitoring mechanism includes the United Nations, the United States and France.
A Lebanese security source said the army had previously tried to search the building that the Israeli military wanted to target but could not because of objections from residents.
But the source told AFP that the Lebanese army was able to enter and search the building after returning a second time, because residents “felt threatened,” adding that they were evacuated over fears of a strike.
