Evacuation of Turkish, TRNC citizens from Gaza continues

By Kenan Irtak

ISTANBUL (AA) - The evacuation of citizens of Türkiye and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) from Gaza continued Wednesday amid Israel's bombardment of the Palestinian enclave.

In an operation conducted in collaboration with the Turkish Foreign Ministry and the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD), a group of 100 people including some with disabilities, the elderly, women and children who had entered Egypt via the Rafah border crossing were brought to Istanbul Airport on a Turkish Airlines flight from Cairo.

Officials from the Foreign Ministry and AFAD welcomed them at the airport.

The evacuees were treated to tea and cookies at the VIP terminal.

Speaking to Anadolu, one of the evacuees, Abdullah Coskun, expressed his happiness at reaching Türkiye.

"Thank God I have reunited with my family. Our journey from there to here was very difficult,” said Coskun, who thought he would not be able to see his family again due to Israel's indiscriminate attacks.

Another evacuee, Abir Sahmud, recounted the painful experience they had endured for 45 days.

"The firing and bombing never stopped. We waited a long time for the world to hear us, but no one did."

He thanked Türkiye and added: "All my friends in Türkiye wrote to me every day, every night, asking 'Are you alive?'"

Minna Sahmud, a 10-year-old who arrived in a wheelchair, described the difficulties they faced.

"We were mixing water with sugar to drink. Finding food was very difficult. We thank Türkiye and our President (Recep Tayyip) Erdogan for coming here."

Sahmud requested prayers for the children in Palestine.

Maria Sahmud, a 12-year-old passenger, drew attention to the millions of Palestinians waiting to be rescued, saying "we couldn't find (even) food and water."

After passport control, some of the evacuees left the airport on their own, while TRNC citizens and those residing in other cities were taken to hotels by buses provided by AFAD.

With the organized evacuation operations, approximately 350 Turkish and TRNC citizens have been brought back so far, and evacuations from Gaza will continue.

*Writing by Alperen Aktas