Türkiye has decided to take a series of measures against Israel until it lets much-needed aid supplies in for Palestinians in Gaza and declares a cease-fire, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Monday.
Speaking to reporters in a news conference in the capital Ankara, Fidan said Israel does not have an excuse to obstruct Türkiye's efforts to deliver humanitarian aid in Gaza.
"We have decided to take a string of measures against Israel in that case," Fidan said, adding that Ankara will continue to maintain these measures until Israel declares a cease-fire and lets uninterrupted deliveries of humanitarian aid supplies.
"These measures, approved by our president, will be implemented step by step, and without delay. These measures will be shared with the public by our relevant institutions," he said.
Fidan said Israel rejected Türkiye's request to be involved in aid airdrop operations in Gaza, even though Jordan had approved it.
"Türkiye is one of the two countries that send the most aid to Gaza, our ninth ship has sailed now," he said.
The aid Ankara sent to Egypt to be delivered to Gaza by sea and air exceeded 42,000 tons., Fidan added.
The Turkish foreign minister also commented on South Africa's genocide accusation against Israel at the International Criminal Court (ICC), saying that "even the UN Security Council, which has remained silent until now, has said that Israel has to declare cease-fire."
ICC, in an interim ruling in January, ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
At least 32 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip, pushing up the death toll since last October to 33,207, the Health Ministry in the besieged enclave has said.
Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas, which killed nearly 1,200 people.
The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory'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.
