Efforts on Gaza issue should be based on Egypt’s plan: Turkish FM Fidan

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Sunday called for making efforts on Gaza on the basis of Egypt's plan, diplomatic sources said.

Egypt's Gaza plan, which is supported by all members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), offers a constructive framework, Fidan said in his address at the OIC and Arab League Gaza Contact Group meeting in Egypt's capital Cairo, the sources added.

Stressing that genocide, forced displacement and apartheid are still continuing in Gaza while this meeting is in progress, Fidan said the Israeli airstrikes on March 18 revealed that Israel has a more comprehensive agenda.

Emphasizing that the prevention of the delivery of humanitarian aid and the targeting of Syrian and Lebanese territories are indicators of Israel's insistence on this expansionist policy, Fidan said: "Peace is not possible in the region without stopping Israel.

"Our primary goal should be to stop the destruction in Gaza and achieve a permanent ceasefire. The pressure on Israel needs to be increased."

Fidan said that platforms such as the UN should be utilized for an immediate and permanent ceasefire.

On March 4, an emergency Arab summit in Cairo adopted Egypt's $53 billion reconstruction plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip without displacing Palestinians from their land.

The Arab proposal came after US President Donald Trump's plan to "take over" Gaza and resettle Palestinians to develop it into what he called the "Riviera of the Middle East."

The plan was rejected by the Arab world and many other nations, who say it amounts to ethnic cleansing.