Turkey dispatches AFAD experts, heavy equipment to Gaza for relief efforts

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has ordered the deployment of dozens of disaster-response experts to the Gaza Strip as part of a new humanitarian operation, Turkish media reported on Wednesday morning.

According to the reports, 81 specialists from the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), including search-and-rescue technicians and heavy-equipment operators, began leaving provinces across Turkey overnight. The teams are gathering in Ankara before heading to the country’s southern border, from where they will travel onward to Gaza.

Officials said the first phase of the mission will focus on locating people still missing beneath the rubble, rescuing the injured, and helping coordinate the distribution of humanitarian aid inside the enclave. A separate technical unit equipped with heavy machinery has also been mobilised to clear debris and open access roads for relief convoys.

Sources close to the operation told local media that no coordination has been established with Israel, whose authorities have repeatedly rejected direct Turkish involvement in Gaza because of Ankara’s ties with the Hamas leadership. Turkish officials, however, stressed that the deployment is “entirely humanitarian”, consisting only of civilian personnel whose mandate is to save lives and deliver relief.

The move underscores Turkey’s growing role in post-ceasefire relief efforts and Erdoğan’s continued calls for greater international action to rebuild Gaza and hold Israel accountable for civilian losses.

READ: Turkiye welcomes South Africa’s support for Palestinian cause, President Erdogan says