Turkey will on Monday host a meeting of foreign ministers from Muslim countries to discuss a US peace plan for Gaza, foreign minister Hakan Fidan said.
Fidan told reporters on Friday that the Istanbul meeting would 鈥榚valuate our progress and discuss what we can achieve together in the next stage鈥�.
A ministry spokesman said ministers from Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had all been invited.
The foreign ministers of all these countries met US president Donald Trump on September 23 on the side-lines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
鈥楢 glimmer of hope emerged, offering a glimmer of hope for everyone,鈥� Fidan said during a joint news conference with his Estonian counterpart Margus Tsahkna.
There were a number of issues that needed to be addressed at the meeting, he said.
鈥榃hat are the obstacles to its implementation? What are the challenges to be faced? What are the next steps? What will we be discussing with our Western friends? And what support is there for the on-going talks with the United States?鈥�
Fidan accused Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu of 鈥榣ooking for a pretext to violate the ceasefire in Gaza and relaunch the genocide under the eyes of the whole world鈥�.
Turkey sent an 81-strong disaster response team to Gaza a week ago to help with search and rescue operations.
But it is still waiting at the border for Israeli approval to enter the Palestinian territory, said Fidan.
The foreign ministry was still 鈥榳orking intensively鈥� and its army was discussing the possibility of joining the international force to oversee the ceasefire, said Fidan.
But Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar said on Monday it would not be reasonable for them to let Turkey participate because of their 鈥榟ostile approach鈥� to Israel.
鈥楽o it is not reasonable for us to let their armed forces enter the Gaza Strip, and we will not agree to that, and we said it to our American friends,鈥� said Saar.
Meanwhile, Israel has returned the bodies of 30 more Palestinians to Gaza as part of an on-going exchange deal under a US-brokered ceasefire plan, a hospital said.
The Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis said that 鈥榯he bodies of 30 Palestinian prisoners were received from the Israeli side as part of the exchange deal鈥�.
Under the truce, Israel is to return the remains of 15 Palestinians for every deceased Israeli hostage returned by Hamas. Friday鈥檚 transfer brings the number returned to Gaza to 225.
The bodies were brought to Nasser by the Red Cross, after being handed over by Israel, as has been the case in previous exchanges, the hospital said.
Under the October 10 ceasefire plan, Hamas has already returned 20 surviving hostages taken two years ago during its October 7, 2023 assault on Israel.
It has also begun sending back the bodies of 28 deceased hostages known to be missing, but the process has been slow and Israeli anger is mounting.
Hamas has sent back 15 bodies identified as Israeli hostages and those of two foreign workers 鈥� one Thai and one Nepalese 鈥� also taken in the October 7 attack.
It has also returned the partial remains of a deceased Israeli hostage who had already been recovered, as well as an unidentified body that had not been listed among the 28 missing.
There are 10 bodies of October 7 hostages thought to remain in Gaza, plus one more missing since 2014. All are Israeli apart from one Tanzanian and a Thai.
The Israeli government has accused Hamas of breaking the truce agreement, and families of the hostages have demanded tougher action to force the Palestinian group to comply.
Hamas insists it is committed to the ceasefire plan but is struggling to find the remaining dead because two years of Israeli bombardments have erased Gazan landmarks.
Egyptian recovery teams equipped with earth-moving equipment have joined the effort to search for the bodies.
