Egypt to host summit for release of Israel hostages held by Hamas - Turkiye FM 

Egypt is set to host a summit involving Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Saturday this week on the release of hostages held by the Resistance group, Hamas, Turkiye’s Foreign Minister has announced.

Speaking at a joint press conference in Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, alongside his Lebanese counterpart on Tuesday, Turkish Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan, stated that “many countries” had directly requested Turkiye to secure the release of Israeli citizens held by Hamas, following the group’s operation into Israeli-held territory on 7 October.

Fidan then revealed that Egypt will be hosting a summit in that regard on Saturday, according to the Turkish media outlet Anadolu Agency, which would seemingly be one of the first aiming to resolve an issue related to hostilities between Hamas and Israel after their operations against one another.

Fidan’s comments came after he made his first visit to Egypt as Foreign Minister over the weekend, meeting his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry, in Cairo and together calling on Tel Aviv to ensure access for humanitarian aid delivery to the completely besieged Gaza Strip.

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As Israel continues to intensify its bombardment of Gaza and its people, one of its key aims is to move Palestinians in the land strip further to the south – where they are amassing at the Rafah border crossing with Egypt – in order to exile them into Egypt’s Sinai desert.

Cairo, however, has reinforced the border with concrete blocks and is refusing to open the Crossing for any fleeing Gazans and to the entry of humanitarian aid. The reason for that, according to the Egyptian government, is the claiming that it does not want to see the Palestinians further displaced from their land, and that Egypt is bound under an agreement with Israel that any goods being delivered to Gaza through the southern border must have the approval of the Occupation state.

The Turkish Foreign Minister also held a call with Hamas’ Political Bureau Chief, Ismail Haniyeh, on Monday, in which they discussed “the latest developments in Palestine and the possibility of release of civilians” held by the group, according to a readout by the Ministry.

Turkiye has long held talks and diplomatic meetings with Hamas’s political wing over the years, but this is the first reported instance of direct communication between the two since the Resistance group’s operation earlier this month, further showing that Ankara is positioning itself as a potential mediator between Israel and Hamas, as well as the wider network of Palestinian political players and aspirations for statehood.

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