Türkiye’s Head of Communications Fahrettin Altun has offered condolences to the IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation after five of its aid workers were killed and two others seriously injured in recent Israeli air strikes on Gaza.
In a statement shared on Thursday on X, Altun said the Israeli government is spreading terror at a “genocidal level” — including killing children, women, the elderly — and now humanitarian aid workers, who are risking their lives to deliver essential aid.
“The Zionist Israeli administration continues its systematic massacres in Gaza, indiscriminately targeting the young, the elderly, children, and women,” Altun said in a statement shared on social media Thursday.
“Now, it has gone so far as to bomb innocent aid workers who were risking their lives to deliver a morsel of bread and a sip of water to the besieged people of Gaza.”
Altun called on the international community to raise its voice and take concrete action to stop “this brutality.”
He said Türkiye would continue to work through diplomatic channels and international institutions to stop the bloodshed in Gaza and ensure those responsible are held accountable.
"Right now, nearly 180,000 pallets of food and other life-saving aid stand ready to enter Gaza, the hungriest place on earth," the OCHA spokesperson says.
Risking their lives to bring help
The IHH, which was operating in Gaza in coordination with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), said the aid workers had been involved in efforts to deliver food and supplies to civilians trapped in Gaza amid ongoing Israeli military assaults.
“We strongly condemn this heinous attack targeting humanitarian aid workers who risk their lives daily to bring assistance to the oppressed people of Gaza,” the IHH said in its statement.
The aid workers killed in the strikes were identified as Muhammed el-Mubayyid, Ahmed Bustan, Mutaz Receb, Ishak el-Tayf and Cemal el-Mubayyid.
