While speaking to Turkish Parliament, PA leader Abbas says he will visit Gaza 'even if this would cost my life'

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Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas vowed that he would travel to the Gaza Strip even if it endangers his life.

“I have decided to go to Gaza with other brothers from the Palestinian leadership,” Abbas stated while addressing the Turkish Parliament on Thursday. “I will do that, even if this would cost my life,” Abbas added, followed by applause from Turkish lawmakers.

“Our life is not more worthy than the life of a child,” the PA leader said.

Abbas argued that Gaza is an inseparable part of the Palestinian Authority’s ambitions for statehood.

“Gaza is ours as a whole. We don’t accept any solution that would divide our territories,” Abbas said during his speech. “There cannot be a Palestinian state without Gaza. Our people will not surrender.”

Abbas’ political rival, the terrorist organization Hamas, has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007 after violently ousting the Fatah party's forces from Gaza. Abbas runs the Palestinian Authority (PA) in Ramallah, which has become increasingly unpopular among the local Arabic-speaking population due to endemic corruption and mismanagement.

It is currently unclear whether Abbas’ statement to Turkish lawmakers was merely political rhetoric or a concrete intention to travel to the coastal enclave, where Israeli forces have been fighting Hamas terrorists for more than 10 months. Abbas' potential visit to Gaza would require permission from Israel as the IDF currently controls all entry points.

In July, Abbas’ Fatah party reportedly signed a unity agreement with Hamas during a high-level meeting hosted in the Chinese capital Beijing. China has, in recent years, tried to increase its influence in the Middle East at the expense of the United States. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi praised the unity agreement between Fatah and Hamas as a “historic moment for the cause of Palestine’s liberation.”

“The standout highlight is consensus around establishing an interim national reconciliation government to manage Gaza after the war,” Yi added. The United States and other Western governments have supported the idea of the Fatah-controlled PA to assume responsibility for Gaza after the war.

However, the Israeli government has been opposed to Abbas or Fatah taking over Gaza due to its terrorist affiliations and hostility toward the Jewish state. Instead, Netanyahu has envisioned the establishment of a local Gazan post-war administration that has no affiliations with Iranian terror proxies.

It is no coincidence that Abbas visited Turkey. Under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey has emerged as one of the strongest international supporters of the PA and Hamas.

Erdoğan has refused to condemn Hamas for the Oct. 7 massacre and has repeatedly backed the terrorist group, while condemning Israel for the war in Gaza. In addition, several top Hamas leaders reportedly reside in Turkey.

During his address in the Turkish Parliament, Abbas wore a white scarf decorated with the flags of Turkey and the PA.

Abbas' visit to Turkey comes shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted the PA leader in Moscow while expressing Russia’s support for “Palestine.”