Türkiye welcomes cease-fire proposal accepted by Hamas, expects Israel to take same step: President Erdogan

By Esra Tekin and Gozde Bayar

ISTANBUL (AA) - Türkiye on Monday welcomed a cease-fire proposal Palestinian group Hamas announced it has agreed to, adding that it expects the same step to be taken by Israel, said the country’s president.

“We welcome Hamas’ announcement that it accepted a cease-fire deal in Gaza with our efforts, and the same step should be taken by Israel,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after a Cabinet meeting.

Erdogan also urged “Western actors” to pressure the Israeli government to accept the cease-fire deal.

Türkiye has repeatedly pressed for a cease-fire in Gaza since the early days of the conflict, some seven months ago, and has called on all countries worldwide to help make a deal happen.

Erdogan also reiterated Türkiye’s determination to fight terrorism in the region “until we dry out the terrorism swamp in northern Iraq,” referring to the presence there of the terrorist PKK.

Turning to the PKK’s Syrian branch, the YPG/PKK, he added: “We will complete our work in (northern) Syria when the time comes, despite the unkept promises of our allies. We will strike a blow to the separatist organization. As long as PKK finds a lifeline in Iraq and Syria, we will not feel safe.”

In its nearly 40-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US, and EU – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG is its Syrian branch.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip in retaliation for a cross-border attack on Oct. 7 last year by the Palestinian group Hamas, which killed about 1,200 people. Nearly 34,700 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, the vast majority of them women and children, and 78,000 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities

Nearly seven months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine, according to the UN

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians there.