Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas told a special session of the Turkish parliament on Thursday that he would travel to Gaza.
He spoke as health ministry officials in the Hamas-ruled area said the death toll from the Israeli attack there had passed 40,000.
“I have decided to go to Gaza together with other brothers from the Palestinian leadership,” Abbas said to applause from Turkish lawmakers.
Abbas is based in Ramallah in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is controlled by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
No one is allowed into the enclave, except for a handful of humanitarian workers. Abbas has not been to Gaza since Hamas seized power in 2007.
“I will do that,” Abbas said in remarks translated from Arabic to Turkish. “Even if it costs my life.
“Our life is not more valuable than the life of a child,” he added.
He wore a white scarf bearing the Turkish and Palestinian flags, as did many of the delegates listening to his speech, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Abbas, who added a visit to Turkey after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, said the Palestinian people will stand strong despite Israeli attacks.
“Gaza is ours as a whole. We will not accept any solution that would divide our territories,” he told parliament.
“There can be no Palestinian state without Gaza. Our people will not surrender,” he vowed.
– Increasing tensions –
Abbas, who leads the Fatah Palestinian movement, a rival to Hamas, met Erdogan on Tuesday. Erdogan was present in parliament during the keynote speech.
Abbas's latest trip comes at a tense time in the 10-month war between Israel and Hamas.
Attempts to broker a ceasefire have so far failed and Israel is bracing for imminent attacks from Iran and its allies following the assassinations of senior Hamas officials in Iran and Lebanon.
From the Turkish parliament, Abbas also remembered Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Tehran, and offered prayers.
As Abbas delivered a speech, a photo of the slain leader stood on one of the front seats in parliament, framed by red carnations.
Haniyeh was a frequent visitor to Turkey and had close ties to Erdogan, who viewed Hamas as a liberation movement.
Erdogan has been fiercely critical of Israel's actions in the war that erupted after Hamas attacks on October 7, calling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “the butcher of Gaza.”
Abbas praised Erdogan's “courageous” stance and criticized the international community for being “silent about the mass killings committed by Israel.”
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