Erdogan extends condolences to Hamas leader over death of family members in Israeli strike

Turkiye’s president extended his condolences to Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’ political bureau, over the deaths of several of his family members in an Israeli air strike, the Turkish Communications Directorate said Wednesday, Anadolu news agency reported.

During the phone call, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Israel will be held accountable before the law for its crimes against humanity.

Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz also condemned the attack and conveyed his condolences to Haniyeh.

”The Israeli administration will eventually be held accountable for these inhumane attacks under international law,” Yilmaz said on X.

He urged the international community to make “sincere efforts” for a ceasefire and establish lasting peace “before more innocent civilians are killed.”

Erdogan’s chief advisor Akif Cagatay Kilic also denounced the attack and offered his condolences.

”I condemn Israel, which continues to massacre innocent people, including children and civilians, even on this holy day,” Kilic said on X.

Three sons of Haniyeh along with several of his grandchildren were killed Wednesday in an Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip.

The air strike targeted a car in which members of the Haniyeh family were travelling in the Al-Shati refugee camp near Gaza City as they were on their way to a celebration to mark the first day of the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday, which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, killing three of his sons and four of his grandchildren.

Medical sources told Anadolu that Haniyeh’s sons Hazem, Amir and Mohammed were killed along with several of their children while a number of people were injured.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive against the Gaza Strip since a 7 October cross-border attack by the Palestinian Resistance group, Hamas, which killed less than 1,200 people.

However, since then, it has been revealed by Haaretz that helicopters and tanks of the Israeli army had, in fact, killed many of the 1,139 soldiers and civilians claimed by Israel to have been killed by the Palestinian Resistance.

More than 33,300 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 76,000 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war, now on day 186, has pushed 85 per cent of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60 per cent of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which, in January, issued an interim ruling that ordered it to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.