Ankara will not allow recent regional tensions to overshadow Gaza in the eyes of the international community, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Wednesday.
Speaking during a meeting with Mohammed Ismail Darwish, chair of the Hamas Leadership Council, and his delegation, Fidan discussed the developments in cease-fire talks and the humanitarian situation in Gaza, diplomatic sources said.
Ankara's priority is to stop the massacre in Gaza and to ensure the immediate delivery of humanitarian aid, Fidan said.
He underlined that Türkiye would not allow the recent tensions in the region to divert attention from the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Reaffirming that Palestine is a whole with Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, he underscored that Türkiye will continue to strongly support and defend the Palestinian cause until Palestine is free.
Fidan’s meeting with Hamas officials comes as U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that Israel had agreed to the necessary conditions for a 60-day cease-fire in the conflict, now in its 21st month. During this time, the United States would work with all parties to end the war. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet Trump in Washington next week.
Hamas said on Wednesday that it would examine the proposal from the mediators. "We are approaching the matter with great responsibility," the group said on its Telegram channel.
NATO member Türkiye has been a traditional ally to Palestine, but the more brutal Israeli attacks became, the harsher Ankara has made its criticism. It has condemned what it calls genocide, halted all trade with Israel and applied to join a genocide case against Israel at the World Court, which Israel rejects.
In addition to delivering humanitarian aid, the Turkish government has sought to rally international organizations, including the United Nations, NATO and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), to both restrain Israel and encourage cooperation between Palestinian factions, most notably between Hamas and the Fatah movement.
