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Hamas chief returns to Qatar after talks with Erdogan, political leaders in Turkey

Friday, 03 May 2024 11:06 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 03 May 2024 11:06 AM ]

Ismail Haniyeh, the political bureau chief of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas

The political bureau chief of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, has returned to Qatar following a trip to Turkey, where he held meetings with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other high-profile political figures.

The 62-year-old Hamas chief conducted talks with Erdogan, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan as well as Director of the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) Ibrahim Kalin.

Haniyeh also received dozens of leaders and members of various Turkish political factions besides scholars, who expressed their solidarity with Gaza and the Palestinian nation.

Moreover, the Hamas leader received condolences over the death of three of his sons in an Israeli airstrike on a refugee camp in the northern part of the Gaza Strip on April 10.

Meetings were additionally held with high-profile members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Islamic Jihad resistance movement.

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Haniyeh's visit to Turkey was his first trip to Turkey since Israel began its bloody military campaign against Gaza on October 7.

His visit to Istanbul centered on addressing the escalating situation in Gaza following Israel's attacks, the deteriorating conditions of Palestinians enduring the blockade, and the intensified hardships due to continuous airstrikes over the last seven months. Discussions also encompassed the provision of humanitarian aid and the pursuit of ceasefire agreements.

The Israeli offensive has left 85 percent of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60 percent of the territory’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the United Nations.

So far during the military onslaught, the regime has killed at least 34,596 Gazans, most of them women, children, and adolescents. Another 77,816 Palestinians have sustained injuries as well.

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