Turkey’s first lady has urged Melania Trump to speak out for children suffering in Israel’s war in Gaza.
Emine Erdogan praised the US first lady’s support for children affected by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, asking Trump to “extend the advocacy” to Palestinians.
In a letter published by the Turkish presidency on Saturday, Mrs Erdogan said Gaza had become a ‘”children’s cemetery”, telling Mrs Trump: “We must unite our voices and strength against this injustice.”
It comes as UN-backed food security experts have assessed half a million people are suffering from famine in Gaza City – and 132,000 children’s lives are threatened by malnutrition.
“The phrase ‘unknown baby’ written on the shrouds of thousands of Gazan children opens irreparable wounds in our consciences,” Mrs Erdogan wrote.
The letter calls on Mrs Trump to “show the same sensitivity to Gaza that you have shown to Ukrainian children who have lost their lives in the war”.
Mrs Erdogan also encouraged Mrs Trump to appeal directly to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end “the humanitarian crisis in Gaza”.
Earlier this month, Mrs Trump sent Russian President Vladimir Putin a letter, imploring him to consider children, but did not reference any specific children.
The Turkish first lady does not usually involve herself in politics, more often choosing to be active in environmental issues – which has earned her praise from UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
But Mrs Erdogan has written letters to the partners of world leaders in the past, in 2016 on behalf of Syrians caught up in civil war, and condemning Israel’s actions in Gaza in March.
The letter was published in the wake of a damning report into the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report confirmed a famine in and around Gaza City – warning that more than 640,000 people will face “catastrophic conditions” between mid-August and the end of September.
In Friday’s report, the IPC noted the particular toll food shortages had taken on children – roughly one in three in Gaza are acutely malnourished.
It also projects that up to June 2026, malnutrition will threaten the lives of 132,000 children aged under five.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry has said 114 of the 281 people who have died from malnutrition are children.
Israel denies there is famine in Gaza. It also accuses IPC experts of being biased, changing its methods for assessing famine, and using data coming from Hamas. The IPC has rejected this criticism.
The report comes as Israel prepares to launch a new military offensive aimed at occupying Gaza City.
On Saturday Gaza’s health ministry reported 61 deaths in the past 24 hours after Israeli attacks. It said eight people, including two children, had died as a result of malnutrition in the same period.
In one attack on a displacement camp in the southern city of Khan Younis, 19 people were killed, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Israel’s military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
At least 62,122 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the health ministry.
Most of Gaza’s population has also been displaced multiple times; more than 90% of homes are estimated to be damaged or destroyed; and the healthcare, water, sanitation and hygiene systems have collapsed.
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