Hamas launched an offensive named “Al-Aqsa Storm” against Israel on 7 October and Israel has retaliated. The war has claimed ten thousand lives in Palestine and more than 1,500 in Israel.

Habertürk editor Saime Toktaş called Hamas’s 7 October attacks a “terrorist act” while appearing live from Israel yesterday.

Toktaş said the following on yesterday’s broadcast, “There’s a war. It’s gone on for a full month. It was the result of an organization attacking a country; it was a terrorist act - what happened on 7 October… Civilians were killed, massacred. There was subsequently a wish to retaliate for this by that country, but it was done by targeting civilians; that is, thousands of people have been killed here this time round in retaliation saying their people had died. It must be debated how just such a war can be, how proportional such a war is.”

A large number of pro-regime names targeted Toktaş on social media for saying “terrorist act”. It was not long before Habertürk pulled Toktaş out from the frontline.

Habertürk Editor-in-Chief Mehmet Yeşilkaya said, “At Habertürk our position and editorial policy on Israel’s attacks on Gaza is very clear. We have exercised great sensitivity over the language we have used in reporting the inhuman massacres against Gaza since the events first unfolded. We will continue to do so. As such, we find the sentences our reporter uttered to be unacceptable and we are immediately removing her from the frontline.”

Toktaş also apologized through a comment she made on Twitter: “I want to correct something immediately for everyone. I have been unequivocal about Israel’s attacks on civilians from the very outset, and have said it is committing massacres and is violating human rights law and the law of war. I am continuing to say so. I was misinterpreted while I was revisiting the lead up to the war on air. However, if you look at my comment as a whole, you will better understand what my intention was. I have also stood staunchly at the side of the Palestinian people at other times on air, and this actually cannot be otherwise for me. It is very upsetting to have to set things straight like this now because that person you are attacking is not me. We have been reporting from Israel for days. Despite trying to be on our guard personally and linguistically, this is concurrently an information war and you can certainly end up being influenced. We have experienced certain serious security-related difficulties in the past few days. Due to the ensuing stress and absent mindedness, a sentence that I would never utter and have not uttered until now erroneously slipped from my mouth. I was unable to subsequently straighten out my sentence under the stress of being on air. Above all, I am very sad as a person who has been following the inhuman massacre in Gaza for days. I apologise with all my sincerity to the public for absent-mindedly airing a sentence that I would never utter.”