FiMED Monitor

Bilal Erdoğan, deputy chairman of the Board of Trustees of Turkey's Ibn Khaldun University, has called for expanding decisions banning trade with Israeli settlements to include all Israeli goods, describing the ban on settlement products as a first step that should be built upon to maintain pressure on Israel.

Speaking during his participation in the "London Halal Forum," held on 10 and 11 October, Erdoğan said the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip is still ongoing despite the declaration of a ceasefire, and that the humanitarian situation in the Strip remains extremely dangerous.

He added that the belief that the humanitarian and field crisis has eased because of the ceasefire does not reflect reality, stressing that what he described as genocide continues daily.

Amid popular movements in support of Palestine, Erdoğan announced the organization of a solidarity march in Istanbul on the morning of 1 January 2027, on the Galata Bridge.

He noted that a platform comprising civil society organizations concerned with the Palestinian cause has been holding monthly meetings since October 2023 to discuss the situation in Gaza and ways to provide aid, especially in the field of education. He revealed that the platform has identified around 65,000 orphans in the Strip who need support, and that work is underway to provide them with monthly financial assistance.

He pointed out that the occupation authorities prevent the entry of aid coming from Turkey into Gaza, including products bearing the phrase "Made in Turkey." He also said that the ceasefire agreement stipulates the entry of 600 aid trucks per day, while the average number of trucks that entered the Strip last September did not exceed 200 per day, according to the figures he cited.

Erdoğan warned of the deterioration of conditions in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem amid escalating settler attacks, and accused Israel of targeting the education sector in Gaza and seeking to deprive Palestinians of education opportunities by killing young people and destroying educational institutions.

As part of supporting Palestinian education, he announced the signing of an agreement under which Ibn Khaldun University will allocate part of its annual donation fund to Al-Quds University, stressing the continuation of political and diplomatic support for the Palestinian cause.

His remarks on expanding the trade ban come amid Western moves to impose restrictions on trade linked to Israeli settlements built on occupied Palestinian land.