President Recep Tayyip Erdogan underlined Türkiye’s strenuous efforts to draw attention worldwide to Israel’s wrongdoing in over four months of the Gaza conflict.
"We are making intensive efforts to ensure that Israel's human rights abuses and war crimes are not overlooked on the international stage," Erdogan said on Friday, addressing the 5th General Assembly of the Islamic Cooperation Youth Forum via video message.
Underscoring the importance of collective diplomatic action among Islamic countries in response to Israel's oppression in Gaza, Erdogan mentioned ongoing diplomatic efforts to encourage joint responses and solidarity.
'Independent Palestine'
Additionally, Erdogan reaffirmed Türkiye's commitment to supporting the establishment of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state recognised worldwide.
"We will continue our struggle until an independent, territorially integral Palestinian state is founded based on the 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as capital," he said.
Israel launched a deadly offensive on Gaza following an October 7 cross-border attack by Hamas, killing at least 27,585 Palestinians and injuring 66,978 others, while nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.
The Israeli offensive has left 85 percent of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60 percent of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
An interim ruling last month by the International Court of Justice told Israel to cease its abuses, but most international observers say it has been flouting the ruling.
