A crew of Turkish catastrophe response specialists is stationed on the Egyptian border, awaiting Israeli authorisation to enter Gaza and assist in search and restoration operations, a Turkish official instructed AFP on Friday.
The 81-member crew from Turkey’s Catastrophe and Emergency Administration Authority (AFAD) is supplied with specialised search-and-rescue instruments, together with life-detection units and skilled search canines.
They “are presently ready on the border on the Egyptian aspect,” the official stated.
The group is ready to find and get well our bodies trapped below rubble.
“It stays unclear when Israel will permit the Turkish crew to enter Gaza,” stated the official, who spoke on situation of anonymity.
“Initially, Israel most popular to work with a Qatari crew, however we’re hopeful that our delegation will likely be granted entry quickly.”
A Hamas supply instructed AFP the Turkish delegation is predicted to enter Gaza by Sunday.
AFAD personnel are skilled in working below excessive situations, having responded to quite a few pure disasters, together with the devastating earthquake in southeastern Turkey in February 2023 which claimed over 53,000 lives.
The Turkish official famous that the crew’s mission contains finding each Palestinian and Israeli our bodies, together with hostages believed to be buried or hidden in collapsed constructions.
Nevertheless, the duty is sophisticated as a result of some Israeli hostages could have been disguised in native clothes to evade detection by Israeli drones throughout transfers.
“This example is predicted to complicate search operations and delay progress,” the official stated, including that Hamas is predicted to supply location information associated to hostages.
Issues have been raised by some observers over the potential misuse of the Turkish crew’s heavy tools, with fears that it might be repurposed by Hamas to entry underground tunnels.
-‘Buffer zone’-
In Ankara, International Minister Hakan Fidan stated the likelihood that Israel could use Hamas’s restricted means to get well our bodies from beneath the rubble as an excuse to renew navy operations led to issues.
“Infrequently we hear sure statements from Israel. That’s worrying for us. Will Israel use, as an excuse, Hamas’s specific lack of ability to get well our bodies trapped below the rubble to interrupt the ceasefire once more?” he instructed a press convention together with his German counterpart, Johann Wadephul.
Whereas Hamas is blacklisted by Washington, Brussels and Israel as a terrorist organisation, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has all the time referred to it as “a liberation motion”. He nurtures shut ties with it and steadily hosts its leaders.
Turkey was carefully concerned within the negotiations for Gaza ceasefire and despatched a crew led by spy chief Ibrahim Kalin to the talks within the Egyptian resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh.
Ankara is now planning to participate in a activity power within the Palestinian territory to observe the implementation of the ceasefire.
“For Gaza proper now, a key query is how a stability power might be shaped,” Fidan stated.
“We’re carefully following these discussions: which international locations can contribute, and below what guidelines and agreements would this proceed?” he added.
“However on the finish of the day our aim is to create a buffer zone between Israel and the Palestinians in order that neither aspect can hurt the opposite.”
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