Emine Erdogan appeals to Melania Trump over Gaza's children

Emine Erdogan, the wife of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has appealed to US first lady Melania Trump to advocate for children in Gaza and call on Israel to end the humanitarian crisis.

The appeal comes after the US first lady's earlier outreach to Russian President Vladimir Putin, in which she called for the protection of children during the war in Ukraine.


What did Emine Erdogan say to Melania Trump?

In the letter, published by Turkey's Anadolu news agency, Erdogan said she trusted Melania Trump would extend that compassion to those in Gaza.

Erdogan asked Melania Trump to write to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, appealing for measures to end the crisis.

"I have faith that the important sensitivity you have shown for the 648 Ukrainian children who have lost their lives in the war will be extended to Gaza as well," Emine Erdogan wrote in the letter published by the Turkish presidency.

"These children, driven into deep psychological ruin and having completely forgotten how to smile, scream into microphones that they want to die, carrying the exhaustion of a war they cannot cope with in their innocent hearts," she wrote.

"I believe that your call on behalf of Gaza would fulfill a historic responsibility toward the Palestinian people," the missive added.

The White House did not immediately respond.

During his Alaska summit with Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump hand-delivered a letter to the Russian leader from Melania Trump, urging him to consider the children impacted by the conflict and bring an end to the war. At the start of talks at the White House on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy handed a letter to Trump from his wife, Olena, thanking the Slovenian-born US first lady for the letter to Putin.

How many children have died in Gaza?
Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry on Saturday said at least 62,622 people have been killed since the war began, including those missing and now confirmed dead. The ministry said the total number of malnutrition-related deaths rose by eight to 281.

The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but the United Nations and multiple humanitarian organizations consider the casualty numbers broadly reliable.

Around half of Gaza's 2.3 million inhabitants are children, and the UN says the majority of civilians killed have been women and children.

In July, the UN Office for Operations Chief Jorge Moreira da Silva told DW that 18,000 to 20,000 children had been killed since the conflict began.

Israel launched its Gaza operation after the Hamas terror attacks in southern Israel on October 7 that killed some 1,200 people, with Hamas along with other Palestinian groups taking hostages from Israel.

Of the 251 people abducted during the October 7 attack, about 50 remain in Gaza. Israel believes roughly 20 of them are still alive.

Hamas is classified as a terrorist organization by many countries, including the United States, Israel and Germany.