Turkey’s foreign minister called for coordinated action by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation at an emergency meeting on Gaza, saying, “What the Palestinian people need is our collective action,” the state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Monday.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan urged “coordinated pressure” on Israel for a lasting solution and said the OIC and the wider Muslim community should “speak and act with one powerful voice.” He added that famine has been declared in Gaza and said the crisis is not a natural disaster but the result of blocked aid.
Fidan said Hamas has accepted a ceasefire plan proposed by Qatar and Egypt and that Turkey supports the efforts of Qatar, Egypt and the United States. “A deal is within reach, but the aggressor must also agree,” he said. Qatar’s government has said Hamas’s response aligns with parameters previously approved by Israel and that mediators await Israel’s reply.
He called for a push to secure Palestine’s full United Nations membership and raised the possibility of suspending Israel’s participation in the General Assembly, framing recent recognition of Palestine by countries including France, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia as momentum that “is not sufficient alone.”
Fidan criticized Israel’s actions at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque and said settlement expansion in the West Bank threatens the prospect of a contiguous Palestinian state. He warned that Israeli strikes in Syria, Lebanon and Iran risk wider regional instability.
Turkey is presiding over the extraordinary OIC session in Jeddah, convened at Ankara’s initiative. The foreign ministry said the meeting focuses on “the ongoing Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people and Israel’s decision to expand its operations in Gaza.”
The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a UN-backed analysis, confirmed famine in Gaza on August 22.