Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz has attacked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his decision to publicize his latest meeting with the head of Hamas’s political bureau.
Israel Katz “uploaded” to X a photo showing Erdogan shaking hands with Ismail Haniyeh in a presidential office in Istanbul over the weekend, writing that the Turkish president “should be ashamed.”
Erdogan met Haniyeh with key members of his cabinet and Sameh Shoukry, Egypt’s foreign minister, to discuss Israeli attacks on Gaza and efforts to calm tensions across the region, according to the Turkish presidential office. .
Erdogan and Shoukry expressed concern that recent drone attacks between Israel and Iran could divert international attention from the suffering in the Gaza Strip, where 34,000 people have been killed by Israeli bombardment since October 7.
Turkish relations with Israel have deteriorated as Israel’s offensive on Gaza continues. Ankara has chosen to ban the export of 54 products, including aluminum and cement, to Israel until a ceasefire is reached.
All this while a small “fleet” of three ships carrying hundreds of activists, journalists and humanitarian aid is set to leave Turkish waters in the coming days and sail towards Gaza, repeating an identical effort to 2010.
Israeli commandos then boarded the boats in international waters and shot dead nine of the activists, sparking a years-long rift between the two countries.
Indirect ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas brokered by Qatar and Egypt appear to have weakened, if not collapsed.
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said Doha was reassessing its role as a mediator, adding that some had used the talks for “narrow political interests” and made “devastating” statements about Qatar.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, said a date had been set for a ground invasion of Rafah, raising fears for the more than 1 million people taking refuge there.
“Attack” Haniya also in the USA
In an interview with Turkish state media Anadolu, Haniya called on “our brothers in Egypt, our brothers in Turkey, our brothers in Qatar as mediators and European countries to take action to curb Israeli aggression and prevent the operation in Rafah”, as well as the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
Haniya also attacked the US. “The US position is misleading, even though they say they don’t want civilians to be hurt, this is an attempt at manipulation,” he said, pointing to Israel’s use of US-made weapons in Gaza.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei thanked the country’s armed forces for their operation against Israel and urged them to “relentlessly pursue military innovation and learn the tactics of the enemy,” according to Iran’s state news agency.
“How many missiles were fired and how many of them hit their target is not the primary question, what matters is that Iran demonstrated its willpower during this operation,” Khamenei said Sunday of the attack on Israel.
