dpa
Istanbul
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday said he plans to visit the besieged Gaza Strip despite the risks associated with the ongoing war there, according to a translation on Turkish state broadcaster TRT.
He has decided to go to Gaza with the Palestinian leadership, Abbas told a standing ovation, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, at the Turkish parliament in the capital Ankara.
Abbas also said the Palestinian Authority would not accept an Israeli presence in Gaza in any post-war scenario, accoding to the TRT translation.
It was not immediately clear if Abbas’ decision can hold as the war rages on between Israel and Hamas.
There is no land connection between the West Bank, which is governed by Abbas, and the Gaza Strip. The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt is controlled by Israel on the Palestinian side.
Abbas arrived in Turkey on Wednesday, a day after he met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Abbas held talks with Erdogan on Wednesday in Ankara to discuss “the steps that need to be taken for a permanent ceasefire” in Gaza, among other things, according to Erdogan’s office. The statement also accused Israel of committing a “massacre” in Gaza.
Abbas called for an immediate ceasefire and Israel’s complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
Abbas, 88, is president of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and chairman of Fatah. He has little support within the Palestinian population.
Fatah and Hamas are the two largest Palestinian organizations and bitter rivals.
In 2006, Hamas won the Palestinian parliamentary election. The following year, it seized control of the Gaza Strip by force and drove Fatah out of the area. Since then, Abbas has de facto only ruled in the West Bank.
Meanwhile, a decisive round of negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza began in Qatar on Thursday.
