Fayed Mustafa, Palestine's Ambassador to Turkey, said on Tuesday that 23 more Palestinian refugees were killed in the major earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria yesterday.

A total of 55 Palestinian refugees, including entire families, in northern Syria, have been found dead or died later after recovering their bodies from the rubber of fallen buildings since the rescue efforts started yesterday in the affected areas. The death toll is likely to rise.

In Turkey, the Palestinian death toll increased to nine citizens after a father and his two sons died at dawn today.

In a related context, Mousa Abu Marzouk, deputy head of Hamas’s foreign political bureau, has expressed his Movement’s condolences to Turkiye and Syria over the victims of the devastating earthquake that struck areas in the two countries at dawn Monday.

In a statement on Tuesday, Abu Marzouk also expressed the Movement’s solidarity with the Turkish and Syrian peoples in this ordeal and its deep sympathy with the bereaved families and all those affected by the earthquake, wishing a speedy recovery for the wounded. (ILKHA)