Pres. Abbas: Palestinian leadership will go to Gaza

ISTANBUL, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced Thursday the entire Palestinian leadership will head to Gaza soon and called for an international support to ensure their safe arrival. In his keynote speech delivered at the Grand National Assembly of Turkiye in Ankara, President Abbas, who was joined by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, urged world leaders and the United Nations Secretary-General to visit Gaza as well. President Abbas stated that after visiting Gaza, he plans to go to Jerusalem. He said "the real objective of Israel's genocide in Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem, is to eradicate the Palestinian presence from their homeland and forcibly displace them." He declared that such actions "would never succeed, no matter how persistent the efforts." Abbas declared, "I come to you carrying the pains and hopes of our Palestinian people, who have endured great suffering and a continuing catastrophe since 1948, facing the crimes of the occupation and the absence of international justice, while holding steadfast to their land, homeland, sacred sites, and national rights." He commended the positions of Egypt and Jordan for opposing Israeli displacement plans. He also voiced frustration over the international community's silence regarding the daily atrocities committed by the Israeli occupation, including the recent massacre at the Al-Tabi'in School in Gaza, which resulted in over a hundred casualties. President Abbas reaffirmed that "Gaza is an integral part of the unified Palestinian state. There will be no state in Gaza alone. The Palestinian people will not be broken and will never surrender. We will rebuild Gaza and heal the wounds of our people with the support of the Arab and Islamic nations and global allies, within the framework of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital." The Palestinian leader stressed that "those responsible for war crimes would not escape justice," declaring that "their crimes would not be forgotten over time." He reaffirmed the ongoing Palestinian struggle for justice, pledging to "continue working with international bodies such as the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, the Human Rights Council, and the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council." President Abbas also praised Turkiye and President Erdogan for their courageous and principled stance in defending Palestinian rights. He expressed gratitude to Turkish political parties and civil society organizations for their condemnation of the Israeli war crimes against the Palestinian people, their land, and their holy sites. Source : Kuwait News Agency