Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a recent
speech to his ruling party, branded Israel as a “terrorist state”, CNN
reported.
Erdogan said, “Israel is implementing a strategy of
total annihilation of a city and its people. I say very clearly and frankly
that Israel is a terrorist state.”
The Turkish President vowed to take steps to ensure
that Israel’s political and military leaders face trial in international courts
for their actions in Gaza.
“We will take steps to ensure that Israel’s political
and military leaders, who brutally murdered the oppressed people of Gaza will
face trial in international courts,” CNN quoted him.
Responding to Erdogan’s remarks, Israel’s Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired back on social media platform X, accusing
Erdogan of supporting the “terror state of Hamas.”
Netanyahu emphasised, “By contrast, there are forces
that support the terrorists. One of them is Turkey President Erdogan, who calls
Israel a terrorist state, but supports the terror state of Hamas and bombed
Turkish villages inside Turkey itself. So, we’re not going to get any lectures
from them.”
Erdogan didn’t stop there, accusing Netanyahu of
threatening Gaza with nuclear bombs. He warned, “I am telling Netanyahu, you
have atomic bombs, nuclear bombs and you are threatening with them. We know
this. And your end is near. You can have as many nuclear bombs as you want. No
matter what you have, you are on your way out.”
Erdogan had cancelled a planned visit to Israel the
previous month, asserting that Turkey has “no problem with the Israeli state;
however, Ankara would never approve of Tel Aviv committing atrocities,”
according to CNN.
He reiterated his stance that Western countries
consider Hamas a terrorist organisation, asserting that “Hamas is not a
terrorist organisation but a liberation group that struggles to protect its
lands and citizens.”
Meanwhile, responding to a UN Security Council
resolution adopted today that calls for “extended humanitarian pauses” in Gaza,
Israel’s Foreign Ministry demanded the body work to free the hostages held in
the Strip, according to The Times of Israel.
In a statement, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said that
there is “no room for extended humanitarian pauses as long as 239 hostages are
still in the hands of Hamas terrorists.”
The UNSC resolution did call for the immediate release
of all the hostages.
A number of reports today indicated that there is a
potential deal in the works to free a number of captives in exchange for a
several-day pause in fighting, The Times of Israel reported.
ANI
