Turkey will continue efforts to see a sustained 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza to halt further bloodshed, the country's foreign minister said on Friday.
Ahmet Davutoğlu said that he hoped to see a "long-term peace" in the Gaza conflict between Israel and Hamas.
According to Davutoğlu's official Twitter account he also discussed the Gaza truce with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Qatari Foreign Minister Khaled al-Attiyah.
In a joint statement the two countries' foreign affairs ministers welcomed the announcement by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and Secretary of State Kerry on the three-day ceasefire.
"We strongly support and hope that this process expeditiously culminates in a sustainable ceasefire desperately needed for the innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza, who have been suffering from indiscriminate killings since the beginning of the Israeli bombardment on Gaza," the statement added.
The White House also supports the ceasefire, according to statement released by spokesman Josh Earnest on Thursday.
Last week, the foreign ministers met in Paris in a bid to forge a longer-term cease-fire in Gaza. The joint statement also reaffirmed their commitment to continue working towards "a negotiated sustainable ceasefire between the Parties and [to] cooperate with the UN, the U.S., Egypt and other international partners to this end".
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