Due to hypocrisy of a few, over 36,000 Palestinians lost their lives: Fidan

Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands "is expanding through invasion, mass displacement, ethnic cleansing, and war crimes," Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has said.

Addressing the participants at the BRICS session held on the sidelines of the BRICS Foreign Ministers' Meeting on Tuesday, Fidan said that "due to the hypocrisy and strategic blindness of a few, more than 36,000 Palestinians have lost their lives, millions have been displaced, and Gaza is on the brink of complete destruction," according to Turkish diplomatic sources.

On the recently adopted ceasefire resolution by the UN Security Council, Fidan said that while it is a positive step, it is not sufficient. Fidan also highlighted that without a two-state solution, "it is impossible to speak of the security of either Israel or Palestine".

"What has been happening in Gaza over the past eight months before our eyes clearly shows the erosion of norms and values. We cannot allow the international order to be governed by double standards. We need to support more cooperation and diplomacy, and less conflict in international relations," Fidan said.

More than 37,000 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and nearly 85,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

'Bigger than five'

Fidan further stated that in light of President Erdogan's motto "the world is bigger than five," Türkiye is striving for reforms in the UN Security Council and the UN, as well as in other multilateral organisations.

"In this context, we value our cooperation with BRICS. We believe that the diversity within BRICS is an important tool for enhancing development and stability," the foreign minister added.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has met with his Russian and Chinese counterparts on the sidelines of a two-day BRICS foreign ministers summit held in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod.

Hakan Fidan also met with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the margins of the meeting of the BRICS nations – originally made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, with Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates having joined this January.