Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a rare call directly on Israeli
civilians to rise up and voice opposition to what he called Israel's
"massacre" of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, after 26 Palestinians were
reportedly killed during a long weekend of violence between Gaza and
Israel.
Speaking to his ruling AK Party on Sunday, the Turkish
prime minister asked Israeli citizens, as "children of the Holocaust," to oppose IDF operations in the Gaza Strip.
"Turkey will continue to stand by the Palestinians, who have been suffering injustice for years now," Erdogan said, underling Ankara's deepening diplomatic support of Hamas and the Gaza Strip at the cost of its once-strong allegiance with Israel.
Erdogan called IDF operations part of a wider campaign of "genocide" against
the Palestinian people, which Israel has "systematically" carried out
throughout the 20th century.
At least 26 Gazans were killed and
dozens wounded since last Friday, when Israel assassinated a Palestinian
terrorist leader in the Strip, sparking an escalation in violence
unseen since October of last year. Palestinians began firing rocket
salvos at Israel on Friday, to which the IDF responded by bombing
launching pads and weapons storehouses, many of which are located in densely populated areas in the Strip.
Israel has for five days now tried to destroy the citizens of Gaza," the Turkish prime minister said, labeling the IDF's
reaction to Palestinian rocket fire "terrorism."
He called on Israelis
to "demand the cessation of acts of terror against the Palestinians,"
according to Channel 2 news.