Palestinian people need “our collective action,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Monday at the opening of an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Gaza.
Speaking at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) gathering held in Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah city, summit chair Fidan said, “What the Palestinian people need is our collective action”.
He warned that recognition of Palestine is insufficient without global action to compel Israel to end its war.
“The Israeli government seeks not peace but the erasure of Palestine. This cannot be allowed,” he said.
“They must be stopped.”
The OIC meeting, chaired by the Turkish top diplomat, focuses on the ongoing Israeli actions in Gaza and aims to coordinate member states’ positions and responses.
In the opening remarks, Fidan also condemned settler attacks in the occupied West Bank, including Israeli ministers, stressing that such actions cannot continue unchecked in the historic city.
Israel has killed nearly 62,700 Palestinians in a brutal onslaught on Gaza since October 2023.
The war has devastated the enclave, which is facing an Israel-imposed famine.
Gaza truce
The top Turkish diplomat emphasised the importance of the Egypt-Qatar ceasefire proposal, which can help halt Israeli attacks, noting that the OIC will fully support efforts for a Gaza ceasefire.
“A deal is reached, but the aggressor [Israel] must also agree,” Hakan Fidan said.
Fidan warned that the failure to secure a ceasefire would allow continued occupation and atrocities, urging a UN initiative for Palestine’s full membership.
He stressed plans for Gaza’s reconstruction and rehabilitation must follow an Arab-Islamic framework, with Türkiye fully committed to supporting the efforts.
“We must ensure that the Palestinians remain in Gaza. We must rebuild the Gaza Strip together,” Fidan said.
Fidan reminded that the OIC was founded to safeguard Al Aqsa Mosque, saying any weakness would undermine the organisation’s core mission.
He also cautioned that Israel’s attacks on Syria, Lebanon and Iran reflect a broader destabilisation agenda that threatens regional and global security.
