ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan voiced “unwavering solidarity” with the Palestinian people, Sharif’s office said on Thursday, reiterating Palestinians’ right to self-determination under a two-state solution.
The development takes place as life limps to normalcy in war-ravaged Gaza, where Israel killed at least 48,000 people during the 15-month war triggered by Hamas’ surprise attack on Oct. 7, 2023. Around 1,200 Israelis were killed and 251 were taken as hostages in Hamas’ lightening offensive.
Israel and Hamas last month reached an uneasy truce that has halted 15 months of war between the two sides. Aid trucks continue to supply food and medicines to the Palestinian people in Gaza as the fragile truce holds.
The recent interaction between Erdogan and Sharif follows the Turkish president’s bilateral meeting with Sharif. Erdogan arrived in Pakistan late Wednesday for a two-day visit to boost trade and investment ties between the countries.
“Both leaders also discussed recent developments in the Middle East during the course of which they expressed unwavering solidarity with the Palestinian people,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said.
He reiterated Pakistan’s call for a two-state solution with an independent and sovereign state of Palestine with pre-1967 borders and Al Quds Al Sharif as its capital, Sharif’s office said.
The statement also comes in the wake of recent controversial remarks by American President Donald Trump to resettle Gaza’s Palestinian residents and redevelop the enclave.
Under Trump’s scheme, Gaza’s about 2.2 million Palestinians would be resettled in Egypt, Jordan and other countries, and the United States would take control and ownership of the coastal territory, redeveloping it into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”
On Wednesday, Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan also expressed concern in a phone call about Trump’s proposal to displace Palestinians from Gaza.
Trump’s comments have been rejected by Egypt and Jordan, while Arab countries and Pakistan have strongly criticized it.
