Turkey's FM: Permanent ceasefire between Israel and Palestine 'elusive'

A lasting ceasefire between Israeli and Palestinian factions is elusive due to the huge disagreements between the two sides, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Friday.

In statements to a local TV channel Davutoglu said that on Thursday he spoke on the phone with with Hamas’s political bureau chief Khaled Meshaal, who briefed him on the ongoing negotiations in Cairo.

The Turkish minister, however, said that the negotiations are “not going fast enough”, stressing that the demands of Palestinians to lift the siege are “very legitimate”.

He added that Turkey is doing everything in its power to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, referring to current Turkish efforts to transport Palestinian casualties from an Israeli airport to Turkey, “because transporting them from Cairo is difficult.”

He added that Turkey will continue to send aid to Gaza, “even if a ceasefire is not reached”.