Türkiye and Egypt will continue cooperating to bring humanitarian and food aid into the Gaza Strip, the Turkish ambassador to Cairo assured on Tuesday.
At a breakfast event at the Turkish Embassy, Salih Mutlu Şen said there was no alternative to Egypt in delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza, which the country borders.
According to U.N. officials, 95% of aid sent to Gaza, especially food aid, was delivered via Egypt through the Rafah border crossing.
Expressing hope that the security situation at the border would improve as soon as possible to facilitate more aid to Gaza, Şen said Israel, which launched a ground attack on Rafah despite international warnings, was responsible for the current deterioration.
The Israeli army should withdraw from the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing, which it illegally occupied earlier this month, said Şen, stressing that both Türkiye and Egypt demanded this.
He stressed that high-level visits between Türkiye and Egypt would continue on an increasing basis in the coming period and added that avenues for cooperation and solidarity, especially in Palestine, would be on the agenda of these visits.
Israel has continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip despite a U.N. Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, deepening an already perilous humanitarian crisis in the enclave.
Türkiye mobilized for humanitarian aid for Gaza after a new round of conflict erupted in the besieged enclave broke out last October. Its disaster management agency, Health Ministry, the Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) and members of civic society organized campaigns to help Palestinians fleeing Israel’s atrocities.
So far, 14 planes and 10 vessels carrying aid have been dispatched to Palestine from Türkiye. The amount of aid from Türkiye to Gaza, including the air bridges and acquisition of aid from local sources in the region, reached more than 52,000 tons.
The country also cooperates with the Egyptian Red Crescent to supply bottled water to Gazans. So far, 1,735 tons of water have been delivered to the enclave through Egypt.
More than 35,600 Palestinians have been killed, the vast majority of whom have been women and children, and nearly 79,900 others injured since last October following an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas.
More than seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel is accused of genocide by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which has ordered it to ensure that its forces do not commit acts of genocide and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.