ANKARA: Turkiye has sent 81 disaster relief experts to the Gaza Strip, some of whom will help with finding the remains of 19 hostages still unaccounted for, a defense ministry source said Thursday.
“There is already a team of 81 AFAD staff there,” the source said, referring to Turkiye’s disaster relief agency, indicating that “one team will be in charge of seeking and finding the bodies.”
Turkiye’s Disaster Management Authority (AFAD) is a government agency that operates under the interior ministry.
“The tasks are known: transmitting humanitarian aid, finding corpses and protecting the ceasefire. But there is no clear information on how to handle these tasks,” the ministry source said.
Asked whether Turkish military forces could get involved, the source said it would be “more the task of civilian entities like AFAD” but in theory the military could help out if needed.
AFAD rescue workers are accustomed to operating in difficult terrain and have responded to numerous earthquakes that have shaken Turkiye, including the one in February 2023 in the southeast of the country, which killed at least 53,000 people.
AFAD says it has carried out rescue and humanitarian aid missions in more than 50 countries on five continents in recent years, including Somalia, the Palestinian territories, Ecuador, the Philippines, Nepal, Yemen, Mozambique, and Chad.
Turkish experts to help find hostage bodies in Gaza: ministry sources
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Turkish experts to help find hostage bodies in Gaza: ministry sources
- “There is already a team of 81 AFAD staff there,” the source said
- “The tasks are known: transmitting humanitarian aid, finding corpses and protecting the ceasefire”
Israeli military says unintentionally struck UN agency truck in Gaza
- “Our teams are taking extraordinary risks every day to keep humanitarian operations and life-sustaining services running,” UNOPS Executive Director Jorge Moreira da Silva said in a statement, calling for an investigation into the incident
TEL AVIV: Israel’s military said on Friday that a “firing component” launched by its navy unintentionally struck a fuel truck belonging to a United Nations agency in Gaza the previous day, an incident that prompted the agency to publicly call for a full investigation.
The United Nations Office for Project Services, which oversees fuel distribution in Gaza, said that the empty fuel truck was struck on Thursday around 5 a.m. from the direction of the sea, causing damage to the vehicle. There were no injuries.
“Our teams are taking extraordinary risks every day to keep humanitarian operations and life-sustaining services running,” UNOPS Executive Director Jorge Moreira da Silva said in a statement, calling for an investigation into the incident.
“They should not have to do that under fire,” he said.
In response to Reuters questions, the Israeli military said that the incident occurred during defensive naval activity, and that a firing component deviated from its intended trajectory.
The fuel truck sustained “minor damage,” the military said in a statement. The military did not say what type of munitions had been fired, or what had been the navy’s intended target.
“The incident was reviewed, and lessons were learned accordingly,” it said, without providing further details.
The fuel truck had been on its way to the Kerem Shalom crossing when it was struck, and the truck’s movements had been coordinated with Israeli authorities in advance, UNOPS said.
