Turkiye ‘orchestrating regional powers’ to push ceasefire forward
Badly strained Turkish-Israeli relations are why Israel has refused to entertain the idea that Turkish forces will be deployed to Gaza as part of an international stabilisation force, an analyst says.
Israel has also denied Turkish engineers entry into Gaza to help with the clearance of rubble, said Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding.
“We also heard President Erdogan being very outspoken in a press conference with the German Chancellor Mertz earlier this week, and he said basically, ‘Can’t you see the genocide that has been going on in Gaza?'” Doyle told Al Jazeera, speaking from London.
Still, Turkiye is “orchestrating regional powers” to take forward President Trump’s 20-point ceasefire plan by hosting a meeting on Monday of foreign ministers from various Muslim countries, said Doyle.
“[Turkiye is] going to need both troops from these countries that are attending but also funding, and that means that they have some influence,” he said.
Istanbul meeting crucial for highlighting Israel’s ceasefire violations
As we’ve reported, foreign ministers of some Muslim countries will meet in Turkiye on Monday to discuss the Gaza ceasefire and its next steps. Expected in attendance are Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Pakistan and Indonesia.
Chris Doyle, director of the UK-based Council for Arab-British Understanding, said the countries will likely push for phase one of the ceasefire to be implemented more stringently before moving to other phases.
“You cannot have a situation where really it’s a de-escalation – perhaps from the height of the genocide – rather than a proper ceasefire,” Doyle told Al Jazeera.
“And the aid has been getting in at roughly 100 trucks a day as opposed to 600 – so all of that’s got to change. That is something that can be done right now. But going forward, of course, they have huge influences to the shape and makeup and mandate, even of an international stabilisation force that could be involved in the way in which Gaza is demilitarised.”
Israel allowed 24 percent of agreed amount of aid to enter Gaza since ceasefire began: GMO
Gaza’s Government Media Office says the daily average of commercial and aid trucks entering Gaza since the ceasefire came into effect on October 10 has been 145 – which it says is 24 percent of the agreed-upon quantities of 600 trucks that are supposed to enter daily according to the deal.
The GMO said the total number of aid trucks that entered the Gaza Strip between October 10-31 was 3,203; including 639 commercial trucks and 2,564 aid trucks, among them 84 trucks carrying diesel fuel and 31 trucks carrying cooking gas.
“We strongly condemn the Israeli occupation’s obstruction of aid and commercial trucks and hold it fully responsible for the worsening and deteriorating humanitarian situation faced by more than 2.4 million people in the Gaza Strip as a result of the ongoing siege and arbitrary measures that impede the flow of essential goods,” the GMO said in a statement.
“We call on US President Donald Trump, the guarantor states of the agreement, and the mediators to take immediate action to compel the Israeli occupation to implement what was signed, particularly the clause regarding the entry of humanitarian and relief aid without restrictions or conditions, in order to alleviate the escalating suffering of our people in the Gaza Strip.”
The peace plan only made mention of aid trucks, 600 at least. So Israel only let in 1/5th of what was agreed upon.
