Despite President Erdogan's public displays of support for the Palestinians, Turkey has failed to make good on aid pledges to Gaza. Photo: Twitter

At the height of the summer war between Israel and the Hamas regime in Gaza, the then Turkish Prime Minister – and now the country’s president – Recep Tayyip Erdogan ranted that the Jewish state had “surpassed Hitler in barbarism.” Erdogan also delivered a speech to the Turkish parliament with a Palestinian keffiyeh draped around his shoulders during which he announced, “Turkey will stand by Palestine whatever it takes. Turkey sees those who are massacred in Gaza as its own brothers.”

Five months later, Turkey’s “whatever it takes” stance towards Palestinian solidarity has been dealt a major blow. As Turkish newspaper Zaman reports, “Despite pledging $200 million of financial aid during an international donors conference for the reconstruction of Gaza in October, Turkey has failed to fulfill its promise and caused disappointment in the war-battered region.”

Continued Zaman:

In the wake of a 50-day war between Israel and Palestinian militants over the summer, international donors promised $2.7 billion to help rebuild Gaza at a conference in Cairo in October. But Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa said “not even one penny” has been received from major donors such as Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.

Speaking at the conference, the Foreign Ministry’s general director for the Middle East and North Africa, Can Dizdar, said about $32 million has been collected in Turkey for Gaza, adding that this amount is being used as humanitarian aid for Palestinians, which includes fuel, electricity generators and relief materials.

“Frankly speaking, what is happening now is not encouraging,” Mustafa said.

He said just a trickle of money has been received, but refused to elaborate.

As The Algemeiner reported earlier this month, Turkey, along with Qatar and Gaza itself, has emerged as a key operational center for the terrorists of Hamas.

“Hamas’ terrorism headquarters are in Gaza and in Istanbul. It is unbelievable that a NATO member is hosting the headquarters of a terrorist organization in its territory,” Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon told his Spanish counterpart.