Turkish foreign minister, Hamas chief discuss Gaza humanitarian crisis, cease-fire talks

By Sumeyye Dilara Dincer

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held a phone call on Tuesday with Hamas' political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh about the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip and the latest in cease-fire negotiations, according to diplomatic sources.

During the conversation, Fidan addressed the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza and concerning developments resulting from increasing hunger and diseases in northern Gaza.

Additionally, Fidan and Haniyeh discussed the latest developments in cease-fire negotiations with Israel.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gazasince an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas.

More than 38,700 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 89,000 injured, according to local health authorities.

Over nine months into the Israeli onslaught, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Gizem Nisa Cebi from Istanbul