Published On 30 Oct 2025
Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has criticised Germany over what he called its ignorance of Israel’s “genocide” and attacks on Gaza.
At a joint news conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Ankara on Thursday, Erdogan noted Israel’s access to nuclear and other weapons, saying it was using them to threaten Gaza, and adding that Hamas was not as well equipped.
He said Israel had once again attacked Gaza in recent days despite a ceasefire in the enclave.
“We need to end the genocide and the deliberate starvation by involving Germany’s Red Cross and our own Turkish Red Crescent”, Erdogan said. “Does Germany not see these”? he said, adding it was Turkiye, Germany and other countries ‘ humanitarian duty to end the famine and massacres in Gaza.
“Just as we want the Russia-Ukraine war to end, we also support an end to Israel’s war on Gaza”, Erdogan said. “Turkiye and Germany are two key countries that can join hands to achieve this”.
Despite a fragile US-brokered ceasefire that took effect on October 10, Israel launched a series of bombardments on Gaza following the killing of an Israeli soldier in southern Gaza’s Rafah on Tuesday. Israel’s retaliatory attacks killed 104 people, mostly women and children, said Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Reporting from Gaza City on Wednesday, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said the Israeli attacks this week were similar to previous rounds of bombardments.
“A brief hope for calm turned into despair”, said Mahmoud. “For a lot of people, it’s a stark reminder of the opening weeks of the genocide in terms of the intensity and the scale of destruction that was caused by the massive bombs on Gaza City”.
Israel said on Wednesday that it had begun “renewed enforcement of the ceasefire”. United States President Donald Trump insisted the ceasefire “is not in jeopardy” despite the latest attacks, while mediator Qatar called Israel’s violations “disappointing and frustrating”.
“The deal was set up to fail, right”?
Former UNRWA spokesperson Chris Gunness spoke to @Dena about how the conditions of the ceasefire in Gaza don’t guarantee the access to aid that Palestinians need. pic. twitter.com/Clzjmzq2tk
An international force is intended to follow Trump’s 20-point plan to end Israel’s occupation of Gaza, but the agreement does not specify which nations would provide the troops. Gideon Saar, the head of Israel’s foreign ministry, stated to reporters on Monday that Erdogan’s comments about Israel had led to Israel opposing any Turkiye troops joining that force.
According to Saar, “[Countries] should be at least fair to Israel when they want or are prepared to send armed forces.” He didn’t go into more detail.
Source: Aljazeera
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