JERUSALEM: Turkey will on Monday canvass peers in the Islamic world to bring their influence to bear on the future of Gaza, as fears grow for a just weeks-old truce.
The October 10 ceasefire in the two-year-long Israel-Hamas war, brokered by US President Donald Trump, has become increasingly fragile, tested by continued Israeli strikes and claims of Palestinian attacks on Israeli soldiers.
Turkey, among the most fervent critics of Israel's offensive in Gaza, will welcome the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Pakistan and Indonesia in Istanbul on Monday.
All those top diplomats were consulted by Trump in late September on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, six days before the US leader unveiled his plan to end the fighting in Gaza.
According to Turkish foreign ministry sources, Ankara is set to urge those dignitaries to support plans for Palestinians to take control of the coastal territory's security and governance.
On the eve of the Monday meet, Turkey's foreign minister Hakan Fidan welcomed a Hamas delegation led by Khalil al-Hayya, the Palestinian group's lead negotiator.
"We must end the massacre in Gaza. A ceasefire in itself is not enough," Fidan said, arguing for the two-state solution to the intractable Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"We should recognise that Gaza should be governed by the Palestinians, and act with caution," he added.
Turkey-Israel tensions
Besides its denunciations of Israel, Turkey has been instrumental in backing Hamas.
Fidan, who has accused Tel Aviv of seeking excuses to break Trump's truce, is also expected to repeat calls for the entry of more humanitarian aid into Gaza, where a famine has been declared after hundreds of deaths due to starvation induced by Israel's continuous blockade.
Israeli leaders have repeatedly voiced their opposition to Turkey, a NATO member with one of the region's most credible militaries, having any role in the international peacekeeping force mooted for Gaza.
Under Trump's plan, that stabilisation mission is meant to take over in the wake of the Israeli army's withdrawal from the Palestinian territory.
A Turkish disaster relief team, sent to help efforts to recover the many bodies buried under Gaza's rubble -- including those of Israeli hostages seized by Hamas -- has likewise been stuck at the border because of the Israeli government's refusal to let them in, according to Ankara.
Israel identifies remains of captives handed over by Hamas
Israeli authorities identified remains handed over by Hamas as belonging to three captives taken by the group in October 2023, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday.
"Following the completion of the identification process... representatives of the IDF (military) informed the families of the hostages killed in action... that their loved ones have been repatriated to Israel and identified," the statement said. The remains are those of American-Israeli Captain Omer Neutra, 21 years old at the time of his abduction, Corporal Oz Daniel, 19, and Colonel Assaf Hamami, 40, the highest-ranking officer killed by Hamas.
