Turkey says it’s ready to help de-escalate Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held calls on Saturday with his regional counterparts to discuss the fighting between Israel and Palestinians, a foreign
ministry source said, as Ankara said it stood ready to help de-escalate the situation.
The source said Fidan discussed the conflict with his Saudi, Qatari, Iranian, Palestinian and Egyptian counterparts, but did not provide any further details. The source later said Fidan had also discussed the situation with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a call.
Earlier, Turkey’s foreign ministry repeated President Tayyip Erdogan’s call for restraint and strongly condemned the loss of civilian lives.
“We emphasize that acts of violence and escalation linked to these benefit nobody,” the ministry said. It also urged citizens in the region to remain in secure, indoor locations.
“Turkey is always ready to provide any help it can to ensure that the developments in question do not escalate further and get taken under control without spreading to a wider region,” it added. “In this regard, we continue our intensive contacts with the relevant parties.”
The conflict comes as Turkey, which has backed Palestinians in the past and supported a two-state solution to the conflict, works to normalise ties with Israel after years of animosity.