Speaking to Daily Sabah on Thursday, Turkish diplomatic sources confirmed that Hamas sought guarantorship of the country in a cease-fire deal with Israel.

Israeli media outlets reported on Wednesday that the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas wanted Türkiye, along with Russia and China, to act as guarantors in any cease-fire deal with Israel. Israel’s Kan11 news quoted an Israeli source involved in the negotiations for the release of hostages held by Hamas, saying that the group’s demands did not appear in the previous drafts it submitted for the deal. Media reports say Israel and the United States rejected this condition.

In the early days of the latest flare-up of the conflict on Oct. 7, Türkiye expressed its willingness to act as a guarantor state for any deal to end it. Ankara champions a two-state solution to end the conflict permanently and is a staunch opponent of Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip that have killed over 37,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, which it describes as a genocide attempt. Israel is currently on trial at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for genocide. Türkiye also maintains close ties with the Hamas leadership and is among the countries defining them as a resistance group. Türkiye seeks to convince world powers to join it in a permanent solution to the ongoing conflict. To mobilize the international community, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made personal visits and held phone calls with leaders of the countries with a say over the matter, from Qatar and Egypt to Saudi Arabia and Russia.