President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi held a phone call on Sunday and discussed the “unlawful” Israeli attacks on Gaza, Turkish authorities said. The call came ahead of Raisi's visit to Türkiye which was expected on Tuesday.
According to a statement by the Presidency's Directorate of Communications, Erdoğan and Raisi exchanged views on the possible steps to be taken for a permanent cease-fire in the region and humanitarian aid delivery to the Palestinian people. Erdoğan stressed the importance of the Muslim world, especially Türkiye and Iran, adopting a common stance in the face of Israeli atrocities in the Palestinian territories, the statement added.
Türkiye champions a united front to stop Israeli aggression. Earlier this month, Erdoğan said that the fall of Gaza would constitute a deep wound for the unity of the Islamic world, urging Muslim countries to raise their voices against the Israeli occupation.
“Breaking the blockade cannot be achieved through one or two countries, but through the steps and strategies created by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League,” Erdoğan told journalists on his return flight from Algeria, where he discussed the issue with his Algerian counterpart. “We have to display the term 'team play approach' often used in politics, in full. Breaking the blockade cannot be achieved only through bringing some aid into Gaza. A cease-fire has to be reached; the necessary aid needs to be brought to Gaza while the city laid to waste by Israel must be rebuilt through using several elements including economic, political, diplomatic, sociological and cultural,” Erdoğan emphasized. He underlined that countries must force Israel to account for its actions and to abide by international law. “The Islamic world must act with the spirit of unity to apply the decisions and stand behind the decisiveness it displayed in Riyadh,” Erdoğan added, referring to the recent OIC and Arab League meeting held in the capital of Saudi Arabia.
In his phone call with Raisi, Erdoğan said that Ankara and Tehran will continue working together for a permanent cease-fire and achieve lasting peace.
The leaders also exchanged views on the preparations and agenda of the Türkiye-Iran High-Level Cooperation Council to be held in Türkiye.
A four-day humanitarian pause, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the U.S., went into effect on Friday, temporarily halting Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip. In the first two days of the humanitarian pause, Israel and Hamas exchanged 41 Israelis and foreigners for 78 Palestinians in Israeli jails. Under the agreement, the hostages and prisoners will be released in batches for four days. Israel launched a massive military campaign in the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7. It has since killed at least 14,854 Palestinians, including 6,150 children and over 4,000 women, according to health authorities in the enclave. The official Israeli death toll stands at 1,200.
