Turkey condemns Israeli actions

Israel will pay a price for killing innocent children in Gaza: Erdogan

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the Israeli regime will pay a price -- sooner or later -- for the children it has killed in the latest wave of attacks against the Gaza Strip.

Press TV

17 November, 2012

Speaking at Egypt’s Cairo University on Saturday, Erdogan said Israel has once again committed every type of inhumane act to turn the region into a bloodbath, adding that Turkey strongly condemns such acts, the Anatolia news agency reported.

He also vowed to support the Palestinians and demanded that Israel end the assaults.

The latest wave of Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has claimed at least 46 lives since November 14. Ahmed al-Ja'abari, the popular and influential leader of the Hamas military wing, the Ezzedeen al-Qassam Brigades, was assassinated in an Israeli attack on his car on Wednesday.

On Friday, Ahmed Abu Jalal, a field commander of the Ezzedeen al-Qassam Brigades, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the district of Maghazi in central Gaza.

Israeli aircraft bombed Hamas government buildings in the Palestinian territory on Saturday, after Israel's cabinet authorized the mobilization of up to 75,000 reservists, preparing for a possible ground invasion.

The Israeli military frequently carries out airstrikes and other attacks on the Gaza Strip, saying the actions are being conducted for defensive purposes. However, in violation of international law, disproportionate force is always used and civilians are often killed or injured.

Gaza has been blockaded by the Israeli regime since 2007, a situation that has caused a decline in the standard of living, unprecedented levels of unemployment, and unrelenting poverty.