Erdoğan says Gazans must not die for a ‘bite of bread’

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday warned that it would be unacceptable for Palestinians to die for want of a “bite of bread or a sip of water.”

Erdoğan’s warning, made during a speech in İstanbul, came amid a mounting chorus of international criticism of Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza, which has triggered a humanitarian crisis.

“No one endowed with a minimum of human dignity can accept this cruelty, in which dozens of innocent people die every day because they cannot find a bite of bread or a sip of water,” he said.

Erdoğan is a frequent critic of Israel, but his declaration came as Israel faced several demands from United Nations agencies and international capitals to protect civilian lives and to allow aid into Gaza.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Israeli forces “must stop killing people” at food distribution points, and UN rights chief Volker Turk warned Israel that it was possibly violating international law.

Gaza’s civil defense agency said that Israeli strikes had killed 15 people in the Palestinian territory on Tuesday, after the World Health Organization said that troops had invaded its staff residence.

© Agence France-Presse