Türkiye has favoured and actively worked towards a cease-fire in Gaza, and a two-state solution to the Palestine-Israel conflict, as reiterated by the country's foreign minister.

“Firstly, we are making efforts to ensure a ceasefire, to deliver humanitarian aid, and to prevent the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza,” Hakan Fidan said, addressing the Turkish parliament on Thursday.

He stressed that lasting peace and security can only be established with a two-state solution, adding: “The problem cannot be solved before the Israeli occupation ends. A sovereign and independent Palestinian state must be established as soon as possible."

Reminding that more than 20,000 innocent civilians, including 70 percent of whom were children and women, have been killed in Gaza, Fidan said it was alarming that some Western countries publicly "support Israel's massacres and war crimes."

Underlining the importance of regional countries embracing the problem, he said the guarantor mechanism that Türkiye proposed addresses the matter, as the conflict deeply affects the entire region.

Creating global change

“We continue to engage in international initiatives together with my colleagues in the Gaza Contact Group established as a result of the Extraordinary Joint Summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League,” Fidan said.

The Contact Group enabled Islamic countries to jointly take diplomatic initiatives by taking a common stance, and their efforts forced the international community to take a stand as a result of the contact group’s efforts, he noted.

On December 12, at the UN General Assembly, a draft resolution on an emergency humanitarian cease-fire was accepted with 153 votes.

“Compared to the vote on October 26, the change in the attitude of the 27 countries, who previously abstained, in favour of Palestine is an indication that our diplomatic contacts are effective,” he added.

2,500 tonnes of humanitarian aid

On Türkiye's humanitarian efforts in addressing the atrocities in Gaza, Fidan stated that Ankara has delivered 2,500 tonnes of humanitarian aid for Palestinians to date.

“We also brought 283 cancer patients and injured people to our country. Our efforts to establish a field hospital in Gaza continue,” he added.

Türkiye has evacuated a total of 1,149 people from Gaza, and "continue the evacuation of our remaining citizens and their family members aiming to complete it safely as soon as possible,” he said.

Israel has pounded Gaza since the October 7 attack by Hamas, killing nearly 20,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring more than 52,000 others, according to health authorities in the enclave.

There’s also been widespread destruction of homes and other infrastructure, besides shortage of food, water and medicines.

Israel says 1,200 people were killed on an October 7 cross-border attack by Hamas.