Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca stated on his social media account that the Ministry of Health took action to provide healthcare services to Gaza and that negotiations with international health organizations continue in this context.
Stating that he carried out telephone diplomacy with many international interlocutors, including the top managers of the World Health Organization (WHO), following the inhumane attack on the al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza, Koca emphasized that the idea that the exposure of healthcare institutions to attack under any circumstances and for whatever reason is unacceptable was the main point in his negotiations.
Minister Koca gave the following information about the negotiations:
"As Türkiye, we are ready to send hospital ships to the region or to establish field hospitals in Gaza or at points close to the Rafah Border Gate, in order to provide healthcare services to our Palestinian brothers. I stated that it was urgent and essential to support Gaza in terms of the healthcare services. We are ready to act together with WHO if it decides to carry out these activities. I insisted that the World Health Organization also has a historical responsibility in this sense. Our opinions and demands in this regard were welcomed by Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, and we decided to immediately initiate the cooperation process with Türkiye in consultation with Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director General. Our coordination and cooperation efforts in this regard continue with determination."
Pointing out that despite all kinds of diplomatic challenges, Türkiye will always continue to stand by babies, children, elderly and innocent people, Koca said, "These days we experience are historical days when people make the choice of whether to stand by humanity or not. We have no voice to listen to other than the voice of our conscience. We are the ones who consider all the Palestinian people including the children, the elderly, the sick, the women of Palestine as brothers.”