Turkish foreign minister says agreement with US on ceasefire in Gaza Strip

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan reported a conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on December 13, during which the parties agreed on the need for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip as soon as possible.

"We agreed with him (Blinken. - Ed.) that a ceasefire in Gaza should be achieved as soon as possible. <...> Israel continues to kill civilians. We discussed in detail what we can do to stop it," Fidan was quoted as saying by TRT Haber portal.

The Turkish foreign minister noted that "the spiral of violence in the region is not stopping." According to him, the US and Turkey together with other partners in the region are working intensively on a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

For his part, Blinken said after the talks that the US sees grounds for reaching an agreement between the Palestinian Hamas movement and Israel on a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. He also emphasized that in order for an agreement to be reached, it is necessary to release all hostages held. The diplomat expressed Turkey's gratitude for using "its right of speech" in the negotiations with Hamas and helping the parties reach an agreement.

In addition, he specified that the US and Turkey also reached an agreement on resolving the crisis in Syria and the future of the country. In particular, came to the conclusion that the new government there should be "inclusive and secular".

Engaged in attack: Houthis intensify strikes on Israel amid truce in Lebanon

And while the Yemeni movement fills the vacuum, there has been diplomatic activity on the Gaza ceasefire

Earlier, on December 11, the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal, citing mediators, reported that the Palestinian movement Hamas for the first time allowed a deal that would allow Israel to temporarily remain in the Gaza Strip after the cessation of hostilities. It was specified that White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will travel to Israel, Egypt and Qatar this week to push for the deal.

Prior to that, on December 9, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that after the change of power in Syria, the radical Palestinian movement Hamas was in "final isolation," which creates new opportunities for an agreement on Gaza. On November 28, Dmitry Gendelman, advisor to the Israeli Prime Minister, told Izvestia that Israel has not changed its position on Hamas after the truce in Lebanon.

The escalation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah came after the events of September 17 and 18, when thousands of people, including employees of the movement, were injured when pagers and other communication devices exploded in Lebanon. The country blamed Tel Aviv for what happened. Since then, Israel has continued to eliminate the leadership of the Shiite movement and strike Lebanese territory.

The situation in the Middle East escalated on the morning of October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian radical movement Hamas subjected the territory of Israel to a massive rocket attack from the Gaza Strip. On the same day, Israel began retaliatory strikes.