Turkey’s First Lady, Emine Erdoğan, has called on former U.S. First Lady Melania Trump to speak out on behalf of children suffering as a result of Israel’s war in Gaza.
In a letter published by the Turkish presidency on Saturday, Mrs. Erdoğan praised Melania Trump’s previous advocacy for children affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, urging her to “extend this compassion and advocacy to Palestinian children.” She described Gaza as a “children’s cemetery” and wrote: “We must unite our voices and strength against this injustice.”
The appeal comes amid worsening humanitarian conditions in Gaza. According to UN-backed food security experts, more than 500,000 people are facing famine in Gaza City, while 132,000 children under five are at risk of death from malnutrition.
Mrs. Erdoğan’s letter highlighted the devastating toll on Gaza’s youngest victims: “The phrase ‘unknown baby,’ written on the shrouds of thousands of Gazan children, opens irreparable wounds in our consciences.” She urged Mrs. Trump to show the same concern for Palestinian children that she demonstrated toward Ukrainian children, and encouraged her to directly appeal to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the humanitarian crisis.
Earlier this month, Melania Trump had written to Russian President Vladimir Putin to raise awareness about children suffering in the Ukraine war. Mrs. Erdoğan—who is typically known for her environmental and humanitarian work, often praised by UN Secretary-General António Guterres—has occasionally intervened in global political issues. In 2016, she wrote to spouses of world leaders regarding the plight of Syrians caught in the civil war, and in 2023 condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Her latest intervention follows the release of a damning report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), which officially declared a famine in Gaza City and surrounding areas. The report warns that more than 640,000 people will face “catastrophic conditions” between mid-August and the end of September 2025. It noted that roughly one in three children in Gaza are already acutely malnourished, and projected that by June 2026, malnutrition will directly threaten the lives of 132,000 children under five.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry reports that 112 of the 273 people who have already died from malnutrition are children. Israel, however, strongly denies the famine classification, accusing IPC experts of bias, methodological flaws, and reliance on Hamas-supplied data. The IPC has rejected these accusations.
Meanwhile, Israel is preparing to launch a new military offensive aimed at reoccupying Gaza City. The war began after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage. Since then, Gaza’s health ministry estimates that at least 62,122 Palestinians have been killed, most of them women and children. More than 90% of homes are damaged or destroyed, and Gaza’s health, water, sanitation, and hygiene systems have collapsed, leaving much of the population displaced multiple times.
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