Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is expected to pay a snap visit to Gaza on Noveber 20, diplomatic sources have said, noting that the visit will take place as part of the Arab League's initiative to show support with the territory's people following ongoing Israeli air strikes, Hurriyet Daily news reported on Sunday.

This visit to Gaza will also mark a first for Davutoglu, since he became the top diplomat in 2009.

The Arab League decided Sunday during a meeting in Cairo to send a delegation that includes Davutoglu to Gaza to express support and solidarity.

The Arab League's decision came hours after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan openly criticized the league for not taking effective steps in the face of the Israeli aggression against Palestinians.

Erdogan has accused Israel of deliberately striking Gaza ahead of the elections in both 2008 and today, but urged that "the conditions of 2012 are different than they were in 2008." He also called for an immediate ceasefire to be observed.

Israel attacked on Gaza in 2008 prior to elections, and now elections are coming again, and Israel is doing the same thing, Erdogan said to the Turkish-Egyptian Business Forum in Cairo on Sunday. "However, we are not in 2008. We are in 2012 and conditions are different."

"As I had told Israeli president before in Davos, Israel knows how to use unproportional force very well," said Erdogan.

In 2008, 1,500 people were killed and 5,000 were wounded in Gaza, added Erdogan.

Appealing to both Israeli and Gazan authorities, Prime Minister Erdogan has urged both sides to declare a ceasefire within 24 hours while criticizing calls by Western powers on Hamas to end rocket attacks into Israel as a precondition to de-escalate Israel's Gaza offensive.

The latest surge in the long-running conflict between Israel and Gaza began when the former killed Hamas military mastermind Ahmed al-Jabari in an air strike on his car on Wednesday. Israel then began shelling the coastal enclave from the land, air and sea. Six days of Israeli air strikes have left over 50 dead, mostly women and children.

Erdogan also said that he spoke with Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin on the phone and asked them to convince Israel, and build up an important assurance.

He said Israel did not abide by the previous Cairo agreement, and he asked them it would not be repeated again.

In the meantime, Davutoglu accelerated an ongoing diplomatic campaign to halt the Israeli operation through hectic face-to-face and phone conversations with relevant parties. Erdogan and Davutoglu met Hamas political leader Khalid Mashaal in Cairo, and the latter later talked to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

According to sources, Davutoglu said a truce could be reached if the United States guaranteed that Israel would abide by a ceasefire, Hurriyet Daily news reported.

However, the U.S. supports Israel's "right to self-defense" as the deadly airstrikes by Tel Aviv on the Gaza Strip were underway.

Speaking at the start of a three-day tour of south-east Asia, the U.S. President Barack Obama blamed Hamas for provoking Israel with an "ever-escalating number of missiles", The Guardian reported on Sunday.

"There is no country on Earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders. So, we are fully supportive of Israel's right to defend itself from missiles landing on people's homes and workplaces and potentially killing civilians. And we will continue to support Israel's right to defend itself," Obama said.

Obama added that America had been "actively working with all the parties in the region" to bring about a de-escalation of violence and that the next 48 hours would be important if progress were to be made.

Besides, the White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said that U.S. president believed Turkish and Egyptian leaders could play constructive roles to establish dialogue with Hamas, Anadolu agency reported on Sunday.

Speaking to reporters, Rhodes said that the reason U.S. President Barack Obama called Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as well as Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi was they had the ability to play a constructive role in engaging Hamas and encouraging a process of de-escalation.

"The President was speaking to them about steps that could be taken to bring an end to the violence. And what we would like to see is those nations like Egypt and Turkey, that maintain relations with Hamas, to help bring this to a conclusion to bring an end to the rocket fire that we've seen out of Gaza, and to allow for a de-escalation in the conflict generally," he said.

On the other hand, Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has expressed readiness to visit the Gaza Strip to express solidarity with Palestinians and deliver humanitarian aid to the blockaded coastal enclave, IRIB reported on Sunday.

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister, Hussein Amir-Abdullahian, has reported on the plan of Iran's Foreign Minister, Salehi, and an Iranian parliamentary delegation to visit Gaza.

In a meeting of foreign ministers of member states of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Djibouti Salehi condemned attacks of Israel against Gaza.

He also called for urgent action of international organizations in this regard.

Iran's deputy foreign minister said that as of the start of Israel attacks on this region, Iran's foreign minister has sent letters to the secretary general of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and the European foreign policy and security representative, strongly condemning this barbaric invasion, and urging for the essential and impartial measures of them to stop the Zionists' attacks and to support the Palestinian population of Gaza.

UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon also called for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants as he headed to the region for talks in Cairo on Monday, DPA reported.

"I strongly urge the parties to cooperate with all efforts led by Egypt to reach an immediate ceasefire," Ban said Sunday.

Ban and Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi were to discuss the situation in Gaza and "current regional and international issues," said Amr Rushdi, the spokesman for the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.

Morsi said Saturday his government was in contact with Israel and the Palestinians and suggested there were "some indications that there could be a ceasefire soon."

Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad told Al Jazeera the two sides had agreed on 90 per cent of the terms of a ceasefire, but other reports said Hamas had rejected a draft agreement.

Hamas demands the lifting of Israel's naval blockade of Gaza and an Israeli commitment to end targeted killings of its commanders in the strip, the organization's Damascus-based chief Khaled Meshaal told officials in Cairo.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in Jerusalem that a complete halt to rocket attacks from Gaza was a pre-condition.

The Israeli airstrikes have killed 72 Palestinians, about half of them civilians, and wounded more than 500, Ashraf al-Qedra, the spokesman of the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza, said Sunday.

Three Israelis have been killed by the rockets from Gaza. The Magen David Adom rescue service said it had treated more than 150 Israelis, including patients suffering from shock.

Israel appeared to be changing tactics Sunday, widening the strike targets to include targeting militant leaders and their homes.

With the continuing of the Israeli strikes on Gaza the demonstrations are holding in the different countries. The protesters call for an end to the deadly violence by the Israeli forces.

Israel launched Operation Pillar of Defense on Wednesday, killing Hamas military chief Ahmed al-Jabari and attacking hundreds of rocket-launching sites, ammunition depots and "terrorist" cells that belong to radical Islamist groups operating in Gaza, primarily Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Palestinian militants have fired hundreds of rockets at Israeli cities, including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.

In a sign of further escalation, the Israeli cabinet has authorized the military to mobilize up to 75,000 reservists in anticipation of a possible ground offensive on Gaza. Two elite army brigades have completed the preparation to enter the Palestinian enclave "if necessary," according to the military.