'Enough is enough': Benfica's Akturkoglu voices support for Palestinian victims of Israeli attacks

By Emre Asikci

ISTANBUL (AA) – A Turkish football player for Portuguese Primeira Liga team Benfica on Wednesday expressed solidarity with Palestine as Israel continues to attack the Gaza Strip, saying: "Enough is enough."

"I am aware that everyone says that this is a subject that we need to be sensitive about, I hear it. But it is not just that what I hear ... The desperate cry of a nation, the massacre that children and civilians are subjected to," Kerem Akturkoglu wrote on X.

"Sometimes in their houses, sometimes in places of worship, sometimes in hospitals where they wait for help ... Many things may have happened throughout history between Israel and Palestine but what I see now is a nation about to be destroyed," he added, referring to Israel’s frequent attacks on mosques, churches, and hospitals, which under the laws of war should be off limits.

The 25-year-old winger said he cannot be silent anymore on the current situation of Gaza and called for condemnation of the crimes and violence the people of Gaza have been subjected to.

"Is there anyone who will not condemn what I have listed above? After facing such a tragedy, how can we continue our lives as if everything is fine?"

Akturkoglu stressed that the massacre in Gaza must end as soon as possible, adding: "This massacre must stop, children must live, families must be happy."

Since moving to Benfica from Istanbul club Galatasaray last month, Akturkoglu – also a player on the Turkish National Football Team – has scored four goals and two assists in five games for the Portuguese club.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire, Israel has continued a brutal offensive on Gaza following a cross-border attack by Palestinian group Hamas last October.

More than 42,400 people have since been killed, most of them women and children, and over 99,000 injured, according to local health authorities.

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the Gaza Strip amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.