İbrahim Kalın, the director of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT), met with Hamas officials on Saturday to discuss delivering aid to Gaza, the spy agency said in a statement that accused Israel of “genocidal activities.”
The meeting with Hamas terrorists and the public communications coincide with an escalation in heated rhetoric by Turkish officials about Israel. It also sets Turkey apart from other members of the U.S.-led NATO alliance, whose previous secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, supported Israel’s response to Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, which he acknowledged were acts of terrorism.
The Turkish spy agency’s statement did not say where Kalın met with Muhammad Darwish, the chairman of the Hamas Shura Council, and his delegation.
In the meeting, the parties discussed “measures that can be taken to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, which is experiencing a great human tragedy due to the Israeli blockade,” the statement read. “The latest situation in the efforts to halt Israel’s genocidal activities in Gaza and to reach a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire was evaluated,” it said.
Turkey, it continued, “will always stand by the people of Gaza, who have shown great determination and patience to protect their lands, despite Israeli attacks targeting civilians and hunger policies implemented to displace the people.”
Israel has rejected allegations that it is targeting Gaza civilians.
On April 3, Turkey’s foreign ministry accused Israel of committing genocide, being the “foremost threat to the security” of the region, and “feeding on conflict.”
On March 30, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in an Id al-Fitr holiday sermon: “May Allah, for the sake of his name ‘Al-Qahhar,’ destroy and devastate Zionist Israel.”
On March 18, he said Israel “feeds on the blood, lives and tears of the innocent,” fuels antisemitism and “distorts reality.”
On May 29, 2024, Erdoğan said in a speech to members of his AK Party: “The world is watching the barbarity of … a psychopath, a vampire who feeds on blood called Netanyahu, and they are watching it on live broadcast.”
