Turkish team in Gaza for field hospital efforts

ANKARA

A Turkish delegation has arrived in Gaza and started to conduct feasibility studies for a planned field hospital in the strip amid the Israel-Hamas war, Turkish diplomatic sources have said.

The delegation is set to present technical notes to the Health Ministry on the field hospital, which was previously announced by Minister Fahrettin Koca. Depending on the findings from their work, the hospital is planned to be operational “as soon as possible,” the sources stated.

Turkish authorities are also actively engaged in efforts to deploy containers where Gazan families can find shelter, in response to urgent needs arising from the onset of cold weather and winter conditions.

Concurrently, Turkish officials are collaborating with the Qatari government to conduct feasibility studies for establishing container cities in Gaza and facilitating the dispatch of humanitarian aid from Türkiye to Gaza.

Diplomatic sources have also revealed that the evacuation process for Turkish citizens in Gaza, which partially slowed down after a six-day humanitarian pause, will be expedited.

Through intensive diplomatic efforts, Türkiye has successfully evacuated nearly 500 Turkish and Turkish Cypriot citizens from Gaza so far.

Furthermore, Türkiye is working on establishing a local supply infrastructure in Egypt to ensure the sustainable and efficient distribution of thousands of tons of food aid for further transportation to the enclave. Ongoing talks between Turkish officials and their Egyptian counterparts are facilitating these efforts, the sources noted.

The sources also announced the evacuation of critically injured Gazans, as well as cancer patients and premature infants whose treatments will resume after the humanitarian pause.

Meanwhile, Deputy Foreign Minister Yasin Ekrem Serim and Deputy Interior Minister Münir Karaloğlu visited Egypt to discuss additional humanitarian aid for Gaza and conduct on-site assessments regarding the evacuation of Turkish citizens.

During their meeting with the personnel from the Turkish Embassy in Cairo, who have been managing evacuation procedures at the Rafah border crossing since the onset of the crisis, Serim and Karaloğlu discussed the ongoing humanitarian aid efforts.

Türkiye, Egypt and Israel earlier joined forces to create a joint health coordination team aimed at facilitating the transfer of patients from Gaza through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, the only route out of the region not controlled by Israel.