President Turkiye called on Israel to end repeated violations of the US-brokered Gaza ceasefire and allow vital humanitarian aid to flow into the warring Palestinian enclave.
Turkiye Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan issued the statement after top diplomats from several Arab and Islamic countries met in Istanbul on Monday to discuss the UN mission of the International Stabilization Force in Gaza, as proposed by US President Donald Trump in his 20-point plan to end the war.
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Turkiye hosted the foreign ministers of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Pakistan and Indonesia at the summit.
After the meeting, Fidan said Israel was failing to fulfill its responsibilities set out in the U.S. plan by “regularly violating the ceasefire” and preventing food, medicine and other humanitarian aid from reaching Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
“We do not want a resumption of genocide in Gaza. We want the ceasefire to continue and we want steps to be taken towards a two-phase durable peace settlement,” Fidan said.
“We believe that pressure on Israel from the international community should continue,” he added, noting that nearly 250 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since the ceasefire took effect on October 10. Al Jazeera’s own reporting traces at least 236 such deaths.
Turkey’s top diplomat said Turkey wants to see a post-Gaza framework that ensures Palestinian governance and security in Palestine. He added that his comments represented the “joint view” of the countries participating in Monday’s summit.
“Attacks aimed at provoking Palestinians should stop as soon as possible,” he said.
wavering ceasefire
Monday’s meeting was held amid an escalation of Israeli attacks on Gaza and a continued blockade on aid supplies such as food and medicine.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched strikes across Gaza last week after it was discovered that bodies transferred to Israel by Hamas did not match those of the 13 prisoners scheduled to be handed over as part of the cease-fire agreement. The attack left more than 100 people dead, including 46 children, within 24 hours.
Israel announced on Wednesday that it was resuming the deal, but attacks continue, with three more people killed on Monday.
A study by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) released this week found that aid delivery remains inadequate, with half of households in the Gaza Strip reporting that their access to food remained the same or worsened following the cease-fire. According to OCHA, no food aid convoys have directly crossed into the northern region since mid-September.
Meanwhile, the Gaza government media office said it tracked an average of 145 aid-laden trucks entering the Gaza Strip each day from October 10 to October 31, just a quarter of the 600 trucks agreed to under the cease-fire agreement.
‘Nothing is clear’ about Gaza mandate
President Trump’s Gaza deal proposed the creation of an international organization, the so-called International Stabilization Force (ISF), to monitor security in Gaza. The plan states that the United States will rely on consultations with Jordan and Egypt to “work with Arab states and international partners” to “train and support vetted Palestinian police forces in the Gaza Strip.”
But Al Jazeera’s Sinem Koseoglu reported from Istanbul that “nothing is clear” about the mission, but potential participants are awaiting further details from the UN Security Council on the exact definition and requirements of the ISF.
Further complicating matters is which “international partners” Israel will grant membership in the ISF. Last week, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Israel would not accept the presence of Turkish militants, raising questions about whose troops could be called in as peacekeepers or whether they could be rejected.
While Prime Minister Netanyahu agreed with the plan, he appeared to disagree with President Trump over the meaning of ISF. At a joint press conference with President Trump, the Israeli prime minister told reporters, “Israel will retain its security responsibilities, including the security border, for the time being.”
Miroslav Zafirov, a former senior political adviser at the United Nations Office of the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, told Al Jazeera that for the ISF to be effective, it must be defined based on “very clear standards of international law.”
“There are too many unresolved elements in the peace plan,” Zafirov said.
Turkiye Foreign Minister Fidan said the international community was “overestimating” Israel’s readiness to accept a two-state solution.
“Israel never agreed to this and had no intention of endorsing this,” he said. “But the international community is basing its opinion on this understanding.”
