Palestinian president announces he will pay visit to Gaza to help stop ongoing Israeli war

By Rania Abu Shamala

ISTANBUL (AA) – In an unprecedented move amid the deadly war, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced Thursday that he plans to visit the Gaza Strip even as the Israeli offensive that to date has killed more than 40,000 people rages on.

“I announce before you and the world that I have decided to go to the Gaza Strip with all Palestinian leaders,” Abbas told the Turkish parliament in Ankara during an extraordinary session on Palestine, attended by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and hundreds of Turkish lawmakers and other top officials. Abbas is normally based in the West Bank.

Abbas called on the leaders of Arab, Islamic, and friendly countries as well as the UN secretary-general to join his planned visit to help “stop the Israeli aggression on Gaza.”

He also urged the UN Security Council to ensure their access to the besieged enclave.

“Our next destination will be the holy city of Jerusalem, our eternal capital,” he stressed.

Israel has continued its brutal military offensive on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023, following a Hamas attack despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

The Israeli onslaught has since killed more than 40,000 people, mostly women and children, and injured over 92,400 others, according to local health authorities.

Over 10 months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.