Türkiye’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has urged the international community to help deliver direly needed humanitarian aid to the besieged Gaza Strip in occupied Palestine as Israeli airstrikes continue nearly a week after a surprise attack by Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

"All international actors must comply with the call of the United Nations and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and take necessary action regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict," party’s Istanbul Chair Osman Nuri Kabaktepe said Thursday on behalf of all provincial AK Party chairs who convened to discuss the ongoing fighting.

Israel’s military campaign against Gaza has left over 1,000 people dead since Oct. 7.

The conflict began when Hamas initiated Operation Al-Aqsa Flood – a multipronged surprise attack – against Israel, including a barrage of rocket launches and infiltrations into via land, sea and air, which Hamas said was in retaliation for the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem and Israeli settlers' growing violence against Palestinians.

In response to Hamas' actions, the Israeli military launched Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas targets within the Gaza Strip. Israel also cut off water and electricity supplies to Gaza, further worsening the living conditions in an area that has reeled under a crippling siege since 2007.

"The blockade has been a massive violation of human rights as Gazans have been deprived of their fundamental rights for years and living conditions deteriorated," Kabaktepe pointed out.

"Punishing civilians will not help anyone. The blockade is causing a massacre, not war. We’re urging all regional actors to take responsibility for the facilitation of peace and President Erdoğan’s call to stop the blockade and civilian deaths with a two-state solution," he stressed.

Kabaktepe further condemned "biased" remarks across global media that he said prioritized the "equality of certain people over others."

"As is known, in a few days, hospitals and power generators will stop working and basic needs will no longer be met in Gaza. We’re urging the immediate end of this wrongdoing. Türkiye will continue mediating and striving for a fair facilitation of peace," he said.

While not openly blaming Israel, Türkiye has said that the latest fighting is due to years of injustices against Palestinians and that the only path to peace is the formation of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state.

In talks with his counterparts, Erdoğan has called for "fair arbitration" to end the conflict, as well.

"Preventing people meeting their most fundamental needs and bombing housing where civilians live – in short, conducting a conflict using every sort of shameful method – is not a war, it's a massacre," he said.

On Wednesday, Erdoğan criticized Israel's "disproportionate" attacks on Gaza as "devoid of any ethical foundation," urging the world not to "blindly" take one side. Leaving the underlying issue unresolved would lead to new, more violent conflicts, he warned.

"We call on countries in the Americas, Europe and other regions to take up a position between the parties that is fair, just, and based on humanitarian balances," he said. "Everyone should refrain from acts that will wholly punish the Palestinian people, like blocking humanitarian aid."

Ankara is also working to get aid to civilians hit by the fighting but "it’s very difficult under current circumstances," a Defense ministry official said Thursday.

Mass prayers

Meanwhile, the Turkish Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), intends to hold a mass prayer event at all mosques after Fajr, the first of the five mandatory prayers Muslims perform daily, for civilians killed in Palestine and Turkish soldiers martyred in security operations.

"At Fajr prayer on Friday, I am inviting our nation to join these prayers for the souls of our martyrs and innocents massacred in Palestine and for peace in all Muslim regions, starting with Jerusalem," Diyanet chief Ali Erbaş said on X.