Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa held a phone call to discuss efforts for a cease-fire in Gaza, Turkish diplomatic sources said Friday.
During the call, Fidan and Mustafa spoke about the situation in the embattled Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, said the sources, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on talking to the media.
The sources added that Fidan highlighted the importance of inter-Palestinian reconciliation and expressed Türkiye’s support for this.
Israel launched a brutal offensive on Gaza following an attack by Hamas in October 2023 and continues it to this day despite a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.
The offensive, now in its second year, has killed over 44,000 people and injured 104,000, also leaving most of Gaza a devastated, uninhabitable wasteland, with food, medicine and water all in short supply.
Months of attempts to negotiate a cease-fire have yielded scant progress, and negotiations are now on hold. Mediator Qatar suspended its efforts until the sides were prepared to make concessions.
The United States vetoed on Wednesday another U.N. Security Council push for a cease-fire that Washington claimed would have “emboldened” Hamas.