Turkish officials deny PM's Gaza trip

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will not visit the Gaza Strip on July 5 as announced by the territory's Hamas rulers, his press secretary told AFP on Thursday, saying the date of the visit had not yet been decided. "The announced date is not correct. The prime minister has other scheduled programmes in Turkey around those dates," the aide said. "The visit will take place, but its date has not yet been decided." Earlier, Abdelsalam Siyyam, a senior official in the ruling Hamas movement told a Palestinian newspaper that Erdogan would visit Gaza on July 5.