Erdogan to Visit Uzbekistan Next Week

The President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has announced plans to visit Uzbekistan next week, as reported by Sarbaz.kz with citing to RIA News.

"This month, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation summit will be held in Riyadh. We will attend this summit. Next week, we will also visit Uzbekistan. These are very important visits at a crucial time," Erdogan told reporters.

Additionally, later in the month, Ibrahim Raisi will visit Turkey. One of the topics of discussion will be the situation in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, he mentioned.

"The international community, unable to restrain Israeli lawlessness, is primarily ignoring its own principles. As if turning a blind eye to the mass murder of Palestinians is not enough, they rush to embrace Israel and encourage it to kill even more children. The prisons in which they have imprisoned their conscience will become the walls of shame for them tomorrow. Western states, which bow their heads when reminded of the mass murders they previously condoned, will be crushed by the shame of their behavior during the mass killings in Gaza," he stated.

It's worth recalling that on October 7, Israel faced an unprecedented rocket attack from the Gaza Strip as part of the Palestinian movement Hamas' "Flood of Al-Aqsa" military operation. Following this, the organization's fighters infiltrated the border areas in southern Israel, opening fire on both military and civilians, and taking more than 200 hostages. According to local authorities in Israel, over 1,400 people, including 300 soldiers, were killed, with more than 5,000 injured.

In response, the Israel Defense Forces launched Operation "Iron Swords" against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Over a span of several days, the Israeli military took control of all the populated areas along the border with Gaza and began conducting airstrikes on various targets, including civilian areas within the Gaza Strip. Israel also imposed a complete blockade on the Gaza Strip, cutting off the supply of water, food, electricity, medicine, and fuel.

The number of casualties in the Gaza Strip has exceeded 9,000, with over 32,000 people injured. The Russian Embassy reported that 20 Russians were killed during the escalation of the conflict, with two held hostage and seven missing. There are varying reports suggesting that around 150 Israelis could be in Hamas' captivity. Hamas itself stated that there are approximately 200-250 prisoners in the Gaza Strip.