Egyptian Armed Forces approve Erdogan visit to Gaza via Rafah

The Egyptian Supreme Council for the Armed Forces has given official approval to a Turkish request for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to visit the Gaza Strip via the Rafah border gate. According to Egyptian journalist Ibrahim Al Darrawy, who heads the Palestinian Studies Centre, Mr. Erdogan will visit Gaza next week after he completes a visit to Egypt. The visit is a fulfilment of a promise made to an Egyptian revolutionary youth delegation to Turkey that he would visit Cairo and support Egypt’s foreign policy, especially its solidarity with the Palestinian cause.

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“Erdogan’s visit to the Gaza Strip and meeting with Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh will be a blow to Mahmoud Abbas,” claimed Al-Darrawy. “The Palestinian President hasn’t listened to Erdogan’s advice on siding with the Palestinian people and ending the damaging national split.”