ISTANBUL, November 4. /TASS/. Turkey maintains contacts on participating in the international effort on stabilization in the Gaza Strip, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said, following a ministerial meeting in Istanbul, involving Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Pakistan, Indonesia and Turkey.
"We discussed the tasks and makeup of international stabilizing forces in Gaza which are planned to be created in the days to come. We are unanimous that this process must take place with the mediation of countries that signed the [ceasefire] agreement and in accordance with the Palestinian side. The countries with which we held talks, said that they will make a decision proceeding from the tasks and authority of international stabilization forces. As for Turkey, its president Tayyip Erdogan was one of the four leaders who signed the ceasefire agreement, so we are ready to apply every effort to achieve peace in the region. Our diplomatic contacts and efforts in this direction will continue," Fidan said.
Israel and the Gaza-based Hamas Palestinian movement resumed Egypt-, Qatar-, United States-, and Turkey-mediated indirect talks on settling the situation in the Gaza Strip on October 6. On October 9, the parties to the conflict signed an agreement on the implementation of phase one of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan. The ceasefire came into effect on October 10.
On October 28, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered to deliver powerful strikes on the Gaza Strip after armed militants from the Hamas movement violated the ceasefire by delivering strikes on the Israeli military in the Rafah area in the southern Gaza Strip. Hamas denies its involvement in the Rafah incident.