Turkey ready to work with Egypt to help rebuild Gaza: Erdogan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) shakes hands with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (R) during an official visit to Egypt on February 14, 2023.  © AFP

President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Turkey was ready to cooperate with Egypt to help rebuild Gaza as he made his first visit to the country since 2012, vowing to boost trade with Egypt to $15 billion in the short term. The news came as the Israeli military said that its fighter jets “began a series of strikes in Lebanon”, raising fears of a war between the two countries after months of cross-border fire.

Here is a Summary of what is going on Today in The Middle East :

• The Israeli military said on Wednesday that its fighter jets “began a series of strikes in Lebanon”, raising fears of a war between the two countries after months of cross-border fire. 
• Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas called on Wednesday for Hamas to accelerate an exchange of hostages for prisoners with Israel to spare Palestinian people further “catastrophe”, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
• Negotiations to pause the Israel–Hamas war and free the remaining hostages headed into a second day in Cairo on Wednesday, as displaced Gazans braced for an expected Israeli assault on their last refuge of Rafah. 
• With Palestinians in Rafah “staring death in the face”, United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths said an Israeli ground invasion there would make humanitarian relief nearly impossible.
• The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says at least 28,576 people have been killed and 68,291 wounded in Israeli strikes on the enclave since October 7, the vast majority women and children. Israeli officials say about 1,139 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks in southern Israel. Militant fighters took some 250 hostages during the attack and 132 are still in Gaza, according to Israeli figures.
• Israel said on Wednesday that it has approved the use of Starlink services in a field hospital in the Gaza Strip and Israel for the first time.”The Israeli security authorities approved the provision of Starlink services at the UAE‘s field hospital operating in Rafah. Starlink low-latency, high-speed connections will enable video conferencing with other hospitals and real-time remote diagnostics,” the Communications Ministry said in a statement. Starlink will also be enabled in Israel “
• French President Emmanuel Macron told Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday that the Gaza death toll was “intolerable” and Israel’s operations there “must cease”,  and Israeli offensive in Rafah would be ‘humanitarian catastrophe’ the Elysee said. 
• Netanyahu said on Wednesday, “Israel did not receive any new proposal from Hamas to release our hostages, and Israel would not agree to its current “demands ”
• Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera on Tuesday condemned Israel for “targeting” and severely wounding two of its Gaza journalists in a strike.
• Reporter Ismail Abu Omar’s life is at risk and cameraman Ahmad Matar was severely wounded when the pair were hit in a strike on Gaza’s southern city of Rafah.
• AFP/ FRANCE24/ YL