Türkiye condemns Israeli raids in West Bank
ANKARA
Türkiye condemned the Israeli raids that killed at least nine Palestinians in the West Bank on Jan. 26.
“I condemn in the strongest terms the vile attacks of Israel, which trampled international law by murdering nine innocent people with its attack on the Jenin Refugee Camp,” Parliament Speaker Mustafa Şentop said on Jan. 27.
“Israel continues to commit crimes against humanity,” he stated.
Even though the whole world remains silent in the face of this “crime against humanity,” Türkiye will stand by its Palestinians in their struggle for freedom, as it has up to now, with determination, Şentop added.
Turkish Foreign Ministry also “strongly condemned” raids that cost civilian lives in the West Bank. Ankara is “deeply concerned over rising tension, loss of lives almost every day,” the ministry said in a statement on Jan. 26.
Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said, “The Israeli side says this is a counter-terrorism operation. But there are also old women among the people killed.”
The new Israeli government “has been continuing various provocations since taking office. We ask the Israeli government to refrain from such attacks and provocations,” the minister said at a joint press conference with First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Serbia Ivica Dacic on Jan. 26.
Israel launched air strikes on Gaza on Jan. 27 in response to militant rocket fire from the Palestinian enclave, as tensions rose following the deadliest army raid on the occupied West Bank in years.
No Palestinian group in Gaza has claimed responsibility for the rockets, but both Hamas and Islamic Jihad had vowed to respond to the Israeli raid in the West Bank, which killed nine people.
Another Palestinian was killed on Jan. 26 by Israeli fire in separate West Bank unrest near Ramallah.
The bloodiest day in the West Bank in years erupted during a raid on the crowded refugee camp in the northern city of Jenin, where gunshots rang through the streets and smoke billowed from burning barricades.