In a telephone conversation on Friday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan addressed the ongoing Israeli military operations in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza, the Hürriyet Daily News reported.

According to Fahrettin Altun, Erdoğan’s communications director, the conversation focused on the situation in Gaza.

Israel began pounding Gaza in retaliation for an unprecedented attack by militant group Hamas in the south of Israel on October 7, which claimed around 1,200 lives and led to the taking of some 250 hostages.

As of April 6, 133 hostages remained in captivity in the Gaza Strip, 129 of whom had been abducted on October 7.

The death toll in Gaza, meanwhile, has exceeded 33,500, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Erdoğan stressed to Abbas that Israel must be held accountable for its actions and urged mobilization for a ceasefire, including a United Nations Security Council resolution. He reiterated Turkey’s opposition to Israel’s aggression.

This discussion follows Turkey’s imposition of trade restrictions on 54 goods to Israel, a response to Israel’s obstruction of Turkish efforts to airdrop humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.

Turkish government condemns attack on TRT Arabi journalists

Turkish state broadcaster TRT reported an Israeli military attack on journalists in a refugee camp in Gaza, in which Sami Shahadeh, a cameraman for TRT Arabi, among others, was seriously injured.

Shahadeh had his leg amputated after his team’s car was targeted by the Israeli military in the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza, TRT World said.

Ömer Çelik, spokesman for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), and communications director Altun criticized Israel’s actions against journalists reporting on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. In a statement on social media, Çelik denounced the operations of the Israeli military in Gaza and the targeting of journalists.

Altun described the incident as a heinous act of “terrorism” that must stop and called on the international community to take a stand against this brutality.

Özgür Özel, leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), also condemned the attack on the journalists via social media.