‘If we do not learn from this tragedy, this will not be last Gaza war’: Turkish foreign minister

ANKARA 

Failing to draw lessons from the ongoing tragedy in the Gaza Strip risks opening the way for more conflict in the Palestinian enclave, Türkiye’s Foreign Minister warned on Sunday.

“If we do not learn from this tragedy and pursue a two-state solution to the crisis, this will not be the last Gaza war. Other wars and more tears will await us,” Hakan Fidan said in an interview with Saudi state-owned news broadcaster Al-Arabiya.

“We need to urge Israel to accept the 1967 borders. All Palestinians, not just Hamas, agree to establishment of Palestinian state based on 1967 borders,” Fidan told the Riyadh-based channel.

He warned that tensions between regional rivals Iran and Israel could boil over into larger war. “While the situation appears calm for now, this potential always exists,” Fidan cautioned.

Israel has waged a brutal military offensive on the Gaza Strip in retaliation for a cross-border attack led by resistance group Hamas, which killed about 1,200 people.

Nearly 34,700 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, the vast majority of whom have been women and children, and 78,000 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Nearly seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January said it is “plausible” that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.