By Huseyin Hayatsever
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey is prepared to send humanitarian aid to Palestinians hit by the conflict centred on Gaza but it is very hard to deliver it under the current circumstances, a Turkish defence ministry official said on Thursday.
After a surprise attack by Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip on Israel on Saturday, Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey was making the necessary preparations to deliver humanitarian aid to the region, without elaborating.
He has also discussed initiatives to deliver humanitarian aid with his global counterparts since the conflict erupted.
“The situation in the region is very complicated. Under current circumstances, it is very difficult to deliver aid there,” the Turkish defence ministry official told reporters.
He added the Turkish Armed Forces were ready to deliver aid if the President directed them to.
Israel has vowed to annihilate the Hamas movement that rules the Gaza Strip in retribution for Saturday’s attack when hundreds of gunmen poured across the barrier fence and rampaged through Israeli towns. Israel has put Gaza, home to 2.3 million people, under total siege and bombed the enclave.
Despite Erdogan’s discussions with leaders, Turkey has not announced any official timetable for delivering humanitarian aid.
Turkey’s AFAD disaster management agency typically handles such tasks, backed by military aircraft and ships as needed.
According to Egyptian security sources, talks between Egypt and the United States, Qatar and Turkey discussed the idea of delivering humanitarian aid through the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula under a geographically limited ceasefire.
Egypt said on Thursday it was directing international aid for the besieged Gaza Strip to Al Arish airport in the north of the Sinai Peninsula.
(Reporting by Huseyin Hayatsever; Editing by Jonathan Spicer, Alexandra Hudson)
