Andrew Wilks
AP / August 15, 2024
ISTANBUL – Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas pledged Thursday to travel to Gaza as the Israel-Hamas war has raged on for more than 10 months.
Addressing the Turkish parliament in Ankara, Abbas also called on Muslim leaders to join him in the enclave, where, according to health officials in Gaza, more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed since October.
“I have decided to go to Gaza with all my brothers in Palestine,” Abbas said to applause from Turkish lawmakers. “I will go even if the price is my life. My life, our lives, are not more valuable than the life of any child who died in Gaza.”
Abbas, president of the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, spoke before parliamentary deputies at the invitation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a prominent supporter of Hamas and the wider Palestinian cause. The offer came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the U.S. Congress in July.
In a 45-minute speech, the 88-year-old Abbas thanked Turkey and the Turkish people for their support and condemned Israel for carrying out what he called “genocide” in Gaza. He added that there would be no regional stability without Palestinians receiving their rights.
