Erdogan's vow: Turkey will rebuild Gaza if ceasefire achieved

Turkey will rebuild damaged infrastructure, hospitals and schools in Gaza if a ceasefire is achieved, the country's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. "If a ceasefire is reached, we will do whatever is necessary to compensate for the destruction caused by Israel," he said after returning from a trip to Berlin, where he held talks with German leaders.

"We will make efforts to rebuild the damaged infrastructure in Gaza and rebuild the destroyed schools, hospitals, water and energy facilities," he added. Earlier, Turkey's president called on Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to announce whether Israel had nuclear weapons or not.

"As Turkey, we are making this call. Israel's nuclear weapons must be inspected beyond doubt before it is too late. We will follow up on this," he said.

Read more: Turkey's Erdogan asks ‘goner’ Benjamin Netanyahu: ‘Do you have nuclear bombs’

He also said that the families of Israelis held hostage by Hamas had sent him a letter requesting that he intervened to secure their release. Turkey's intelligence agency had been activated to look into the issue, news agency Reuters reported.

Turkey's president had also said before that “Hamas is not a terrorist organisation, it is a liberation group, 'mujahideen' waging a battle to protect its lands and people.” Slamming West for supporting Israel's retaliation against Hamas, he had said, “Western tears shed for Israel are a manifestation of fraud." Meanwhile, Turkey foreign minister Hakan Fidan said that Israel committed "a crime against humanity" in its war in Gaza.

"Targeting our Palestinian brothers, including children, patients and the elderly, even in schools, hospitals and mosques, is a crime against humanity," he said.

This comes as Israel continues to bomb much of Gaza City to rubble. The majority of dead on both sides - 1,200 Israelis and over 12,000 in Gaza - have been civilians.

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