Turkish President Erdogan to meet Hamas Chief in Istanbul

Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to meet militant organisation Hamas’ political bureau head Ismail Haniyeh on Saturday to have talks in Istanbul regarding the ongoing Gaza war, state broadcaster TRT reported.

Additional details regarding the content of the discussions between the two individuals were not immediately available.

Haniyeh met with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Qatar on Wednesday to discuss a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages, according to the state news agency Anadolu.

Erdogan publicly endorses Hamas. During his address to the Knesset earlier this week, Netanyahu compared Hamas to Turkish independence fighters fighting Western armies in Anatolia in the 1920s.

During the same address, the Turkish leader criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for what he referred to as an ongoing “massacre” in Gaza. Israel has strongly refuted Erdogan’s remarks.

Despite the president’s verbal criticisms, Turkey has recently intensified its efforts to mediate in the Gaza conflict.

Efforts to negotiate, primarily facilitated by the United States, Qatar, and Egypt, have thus far been unsuccessful.

The war began on Oct 7, when Hamas and other terrorist groups launched an unprecedented invasion into southern Israel, killing over 1,200 people—the great majority of them were civilians—and kidnapping nearly 250 others, taking them into Gaza. Though more than thirty hostages have already been confirmed dead either killed on October 7 or from being held captive, Israel claims that over 130 captives are still in Gaza.

Israel’s response included extensive airstrikes and a ground offensive in Gaza, resulting in over 33,000 casualties in the strip. The significant civilian death toll and dire humanitarian conditions in the area have led to mounting international criticism of Israel, even from its close allies.