Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan called on Muslim countries to take bold decisions until a sovereign Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital is formed, as he expressed Türkiye’s call for an unconditional cease-fire to the Palestine-Israel conflict at an extraordinary meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Jeddah on Wednesday.
"The Muslim world should take bold decisions until a sovereign, independent, contiguous Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital is established," Fidan said.
Urging Muslim countries to be confident and challenge the hegemonic rhetoric of Israel and its supporters, Fidan said they should guarantee the welfare and perpetuity of the Palestinian people and act as guarantors of permanent peace. He noted that such a mechanism has a potential to ensure peace, security and stability.
Lamenting Israel’s continuing occupation of Palestinian lands and “provocative actions” toward the sacred Al-Aqsa Mosque, Fidan condemned the “collective punishment” of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip besieged by Israel.
“Denying electricity, water and food to Gaza cannot be justified in any way,” he said.
Palestinians are suffering and facing death as the situation worsens every day, Fidan said, stressing that Türkiye “is calling for a historic step toward peace.”
"We need to break the vicious cycle in which Israel maintains its oppression, is criticized by us and then goes ahead and carries out other cruel acts to make the world forget about its previous crimes," Fidan said.
OIC member states convened an urgent meeting to focus on the ongoing crisis in Gaza, especially the actions of the Israeli military, one day after over 500 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in the Gaza Strip.
Earlier in the day, Fidan met his Saudi counterpart Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Salem Abdullah Al Jaber Al Sabah to discuss the crisis.
Türkiye excoriated Israel over the strike.
"Striking a hospital where there are women, children, and innocent civilians is the latest example of Israel's attacks devoid of fundamental human values," President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in a post on X.
"I call on all humanity to take action to stop Israel's unprecedented brutality in Gaza," he added.
The OIC condemned the attack, as well, denouncing it as an act of "organized state terrorism" and a "war crime."
In a written statement late Tuesday, it underlined that the 57-member bloc of Muslim nations held the "Israeli occupation accountable for the consequences of its crimes, terrorist practices and brutal attacks against the Palestinian people, which contradict all human values and constitute a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law."
Emphasizing the need for accountability and punishment for such acts of "organized state terrorism," the OIC called on the international community, and especially the U.N. Security Council, to "urgently intervene to stop the war crimes committed by the Israeli occupation in the Gaza Strip and provide international protection for the Palestinian people."
Footage showed corpses scattered across the hospital grounds.
Thousands of Palestinians were at the hospital when the building came under bombardment, an Anadolu Agency (AA) reporter said.
Israel has denied responsibility for the air raid, while numerous international actors called for an impartial investigation to prove who is culpable.
The airstrike came on the 12th day of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, with a growing international chorus of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and world leaders saying the Israeli bombing campaign on the besieged enclave – including health care facilities, residences and houses of worship – violates international law and may constitute war crimes.
