Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed yesterday to “change the Middle East” during the “long and difficult war” that Israel has launched against the Islamist group Hamas in Gaza, following Saturday’s unexpected ground offensive launched by armed Palestinian groups on Israeli territory, already considered Israel’s biggest threat since the 1973 Yom Kippur War half a century ago. “What Hamas is going to experience will be difficult, and terrible… We are going to change the Middle East. This is just the beginning… We are going to defeat them with force, with enormous force,” he said during a visit to Jerusalem by a group of officials from southern Israel.
Israel’s bombardment of the Gaza Strip has intensified in recent hours as the Israeli army has already amassed some 300,000 called-up reservists near the Gaza border; they are expected to reach at least 700,000, as Israel expects to have to fight on two fronts: one in Gaza, and another to the north in Lebanon against Hezbollah militias. Since the conflict erupted on Saturday, at least 800 Israelis have been killed and more than 2,300 wounded; on the Palestinian side, the dead number has reached 560 and the wounded 2,900, according to the latest figures.
In this situation, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed grave concern over Israel’s announcement to impose a total blockade on Gaza, depriving it of electricity, water, food and fuel: “The humanitarian situation in Gaza was already dire before… Now, it will deteriorate exponentially,” he said.
Erdoğan condemns attacks on both sides, offers Turkey’s mediation
For his part, Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan, in an public appearance after a meeting with his cabinet, lamented the situation that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has reached, which he attributed to the injustices committed against the Palestinian people and the unfulfilled promises of the international community; Erdoğan nonetheless rejected both the indiscriminate and “unacceptable” bombardment of Gaza and the targeting of Israeli civilians by Hamas, and urged the Palestinian factions and Israel to reach a ceasefire. “Turkey is ready for any kind of mediation in the conflict, including prisoner exchanges,” he added.
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Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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