ISTANBUL: Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is expected to call at a meeting in Istanbul on Monday for arrangements to be made as soon as possible to ensure the security and administration of Gaza by Palestinians, a foreign ministry source said on Sunday.
The foreign ministers of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Pakistan and Indonesia are set to join the meeting on ceasefire developments and the humanitarian situation in Gaza, the Turkish foreign ministry source said.
The source said Fidan was expected to “emphasize the importance of coordinated action by Muslim countries for the ceasefire to evolve into a lasting peace.”
Countries taking part in the Istanbul talks all attended a meeting with US President Donald Trump in New York in September on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
The US-brokered Gaza truce, which left thorny issues like the disarmament of Palestinian militant group Hamas and a timeline for Israeli withdrawal from Gaza unresolved, has been tested by periodic violence since coming into force.
The source said Fidan is set to tell the meeting that Israel is “making excuses” to end the ceasefire and emphasize the need for the international community to “take a resolute stance against Israel’s provocative actions.”
He was also set to say that humanitarian aid entering Gaza is insufficient and Israel has not fulfilled its obligations in this regard.
Relations between Turkiye and Israel have hit new lows during the Gaza war, with President Tayyip Erdogan harshly criticizing Israel’s attacks on the enclave.
Turkiye helped persuade Hamas to accept Trump’s peace plan and has expressed a willingness to take part in an international task force to monitor ceasefire implementation.
However, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said last Monday that Israel won’t accept the presence of Turkish armed forces in Gaza under the US plan to end the war.
Turkiye set to call for action on Gaza as soon as possible, source says
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Turkiye set to call for action on Gaza as soon as possible, source says
- Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is expected to call at a meeting in Istanbul on Monday with Arab and muslim ministers
Medical stocks ‘critically low’ in Gaza, WHO says
- Supplies of some items such as gauze and needles have already run out, said Balkhy
- “Stocks of essential medicines, trauma supplies and surgical consumables are critically low”
GENEVA: The World Health Organization said on Friday that medical supplies in Gaza were running critically low despite Israel’s reopening of a key crossing this week.
Supplies of some items such as gauze and needles have already run out, said WHO’s regional director Hanan Balkhy, citing information from the Health Ministry in Gaza, devastated by the two-year Israel-Hamas war.
“Stocks of essential medicines, trauma supplies and surgical consumables are critically low, and fuel shortages continue to limit hospital operations,” she said.
“The situation is difficult, and we will be running out of whatever is remaining.” On Tuesday, the Israeli military agency that controls access to Gaza said it had reopened the Kerem Shalom border crossing “for the gradual entry of humanitarian aid.” It had closed entry points earlier citing missile threats from Iran amid an escalating air war after Israeli and US forces attacked Iran on Saturday.
The Rafah crossing into Egypt, the main exit point for most people in Gaza, has remained shut and medical evacuations suspended, WHO said.
A THIRD OF DAILY TRUCK TRAFFIC
Some 18,000 people, including injured children and people with chronic diseases, are awaiting evacuation, according to the UN agency.
Balkhy said that it was able to import some medical supplies and fuel on Tuesday and Wednesday, but that some trucks remain on standby in Al-Arish, Egypt.
“We’re talking about … maximum 200 out of 600 daily trucks that need to go in are going in so that is really not enough to support the needs in Gaza,” she said. She called for more fuel to be allowed to enter to run hospitals.
Half of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are still shut after the Israel-Hamas war ended in a shaky ceasefire last October and the ones that are open are struggling to sustain critical services such as surgery, dialysis and intensive care, she said.
