Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday (September 7, 2024) said Islamic countries should form an alliance against what he called “the growing threat of expansionism” from Israel.

He made the comment after describing what Palestinian and Turkish officials said was the killing by Israeli troops of a Turkish-American woman taking part in a protest on Friday against settlement expansion in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Also read | Turkey’s Erdogan says ‘spirit of United Nations dead in Gaza’

“The only step that will stop Israeli arrogance, Israeli banditry, and Israeli state terrorism is the alliance of Islamic countries,” Mr. Erdogan said at an Islamic schools’ association event near Istanbul.

He said recent steps that Turkey has taken to improve ties with Egypt and Syria are aimed at “forming a line of solidarity against the growing threat of expansionism,” which he said also threatened Lebanon and Syria.

Mr. Erdogan hosted Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Ankara this week and they discussed the Gaza war and ways to further repair their long-frozen ties during what was the first such presidential visit in 12 years.

Ties between them started thawing in 2020 when Turkey began diplomatic efforts to ease tensions with estranged regional rivals, including the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Mr. Erdogan said in July that Turkey would extend an invitation to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad “any time” for possible talks to restore relations between the two neighbours, who severed ties in 2011 after the outbreak of the Syrian civil war.

Israel did not immediately comment on Mr. Erdogan’s remarks on Saturday.

Israel’s military said after Friday’s incident that it was looking into reports that a female foreign national “was killed as a result of shots fired in the area. The details of the incident and the circumstances in which she was hit are under review.

There was no immediate comment on Friday’s incident from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.

New Delhi:

The Israel’s Defence Forces (IDF) today released footage showing and elite unit rescuing over 250 hostages near the Gaza security fence. Sixty Hamas terrorists were also killed as the Israel’s military’s “Shayetet 13” unit stormed the Sufa outpost.

The IDF said 250 hostages were rescued, while “over 60 Hamas terrorists were neutralised and 26 were apprehended, including Muhammad Abu A’ali, the Deputy Commander of the Hamas southern Naval Division.”

In the video released, the Israeli soldiers can be seen going inside the building and gun shots can be heard. A soldier is seen firing from behind cover and another throws a grenade at the outpost.  

״שייטת, שייטת, תישארו בבונקר, אנחנו באים!״ לוחמי שייטת 13 בקרב על מוצב סופה

כוחות יחידת שייטת 13 בסדיר ובמילואים הוזנקו במסוקים תוך זמן קצר עם הגעת הדיווחים על החדירה בגבול עזה בשבת בבוקר וחברו לכוחות הלוחמים בשטח למאמץ משותף.
הכוחות החלו בלחימה ביישובי העוטף ובים במקביל>> pic.twitter.com/dSQTqqj2yr

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) October 12, 2023

“Go on, light them up. Clear, clear”, a soldier can be heard as they scan the premises. Another soldier can be seen escorting a hostage out of the bunker. He is the held against the wall, “Put a pistol to him. I got him”, he says.

Also Read| Gazans Fight For Survival Amid Siege, Top US Diplomat Visits Israel

The soldiers then went inside the bunker and assured the hostages that they are here to “save” them and if they need “any first aid”.

Later in the footage, soldiers can be seen carrying a stretcher.

Today, marks the seventh day of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war with peace proposals nowhere on the table. At least 1,200 have died in Israel and another 1,400 in Gaza strip since the war began. Besides, the bodies of 1,500 Hamas operatives were found in the Israeli territory, the government has claimed.

The unit was deployed to the area surrounding the Gaza security fence in a joint effort to regain control of the Sufa military post on October 7.