Turkiye ready to send Palestinians aid but 'very difficult' to deliver

Palestinians take shelter in an UNRWA school in Gaza City on 11 October 2023 after being internally displaced a a result of the relentless Israeli shelling of civilian neighbourhoods in Gaza [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

Turkiye is prepared to send humanitarian aid to Palestinians hit by the conflict centred on Gaza, but it is very hard to deliver it under the current circumstances, a Turkish Defence Ministry official said on Thursday, Reuters reports.

According to the report, after a surprise attack by Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip on Israel on Saturday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkiye was making the necessary preparations to deliver humanitarian aid to the region, without elaborating.

“The situation in the region is very complicated. Under current circumstances, it is very difficult to deliver aid there,” the Turkish Defence Ministry official told reporters.

He added that the Turkish Armed Forces were ready to deliver aid if the President directed them to.

Israel has vowed to annihilate the Hamas movement that rules the Gaza Strip in retribution for Saturday’s attack, when hundreds of gunmen poured across the barrier fence and rampaged through Israeli towns.

Israel has put Gaza, home to 2.3 million people, under total siege and bombed the enclave.

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