Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan meets with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ankara, Turkey Aug. 14, 2024. (Credit: Murat Cetinmuhurdar/Turkish Presidential Press Office/Reuters)
Palestinian Authority president Mahmud Abbas told a special session of the Turkish parliament on Thursday that he would travel to Gaza.
He was speaking as health ministry officials in the territory said the death toll from Israel's assault there had passed 40,000 people.
"I have decided to go to Gaza with other brothers from the Palestinian leadership," Abbas said in an address applauded by Turkish lawmakers.
"I will do that. Even if this would cost my life. Our life is not more worthy than the life of a child," he added.
Abbas, who added a visit to Turkey after meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, said the Palestinian people would stand tall despite the Israeli strikes.
"Gaza is ours as a whole. We don't accept any solution that would divide our territories," he told the parliament.
"There cannot be a Palestinian state without Gaza. Our people will not surrender," he promised.
Abbas, who heads the Fatah Palestinian movement, a rival to Hamas, had already visited Turkey at Erdogan's invitation in early March.
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