The global community and the EU have turned a blind eye to Israel's attacks to destroy Gaza's health infrastructure, leaving infants and civilians for dead, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said.
Accusing the EU of having displayed a “very strange and inconsistent role,” Erdogan said that the EU “did not and could not put forward a fair approach.”
“Pay attention to who is currently on Israel's side, and who is also left out of the diplomatic processes in the Russia-Ukraine war. (It is) the European Union,” the Turkish leader told reporters aboard the presidential plane on Friday on his way back from Kazakhstan, where he attended a summit meeting of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS).
“Our trust in EU has been shattered,” he added.
"The EU administration must first think carefully about the issue of trust in international law and the universal values they mention at every opportunity. While hospitals are being hit, civilians are being killed in refugee camps, and Israel is spewing death into places of worship, schools, and marketplaces, they have to explain where they stand," Erdogan said.
"What does the EU administration propose?" he asked. "To pave the way for the complete occupation of Palestinian lands by Israel and to actually end the existence of Palestine?"
The president also emphasized that "it is the time to defend human life and the right to live."
The Israeli army has widened its air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip, which has been under relentless airstrikes since the surprise offensive by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7.
At least 9,488 Palestinians, including 3,900 children have been killed in Israeli attacks since then, while the Israeli death toll has topped 1,500, according to official figures.
Basic supplies are running low for Gaza’s 2.3 million residents due to the Israeli siege, in addition to the large number of casualties and displacements.
