Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan discussed the situation in Gaza and regional developments with his Saudi Arabian counterpart Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud in a phone call on Monday.
Fidan's call comes a day after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman discussed the Gaza crisis in a phone call.
Ankara sought to mobilize Muslim and Arab countries to stand in the face of Israeli aggression and has been a fervent supporter of the Palestinian cause. It joined a diplomatic group consisting of ministers of various countries, including Saudi Arabia, that went on a globetrotting mission to ensure more action by the international community to halt Israel’s attacks targeting innocent Palestinians and for a lasting peace. Saudi Arabia is among the defenders of the idea of a fully independent State of Palestine and last month, hosted Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas shortly after he made a historic speech at the Turkish Parliament.
Fidan met with Al Saud and discussed regional and global developments, including the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, on the sidelines of the G-20 Foreign Ministers Meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in February.
Israel has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, which claimed about 1,200 lives.
The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the U.N.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which on Thursday asked Israel to do more to prevent famine in Gaza.
