Israel's lawless behaviour proves our concerns: President Erdogan

Israel's continuing lawless behaviour in Palestine's Gaza has once again shown that we were right in our concerns, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said, reaffirming his stance that Israel is a "terrorist state".

"There was an opportunity for peace that was unfortunately lost due to Israel's uncompromising approach," Erdogan told reporters on Saturday as he returned to Türkiye following the UN climate summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

"From the beginning, we have always stressed that we are in favour of a permanent ceasefire, rather than a humanitarian pause," Erdogan said, reaffirming that Türkiye will continue its tireless efforts for peace.

Western countries that support Israel, particularly the United States and the United Kingdom, have constantly been bringing the "Hamas threat" to the foreground of discussions rather than a two-state solution, Erdogan stressed.

"If we put the two-state solution at the centre (of discussions), the issues concerning Gaza and mutual threats would disappear," he added.

"The exclusion of Hamas, or the elimination of Hamas, is not a realistic scenario."

Israel to be held accountable for genocide

On the appeal against Israel at the International Criminal Court, Erdogan said Türkiye was closely following the case, saying: “We want all Israeli leaders who had a hand in this genocide to be tried and punished.”

"We will not forget this genocide, and we will not let it be forgotten. Sooner or later, Israel will have to answer for this," he added.

Noting that there will be influential actors who attempt to prevent this due to the faulty global system, Erdogan stressed that Israel's massacre in Gaza has left a dark stain on the Netanyahu administration and the countries that unconditionally supported their atrocities.

"Currently, the one thing the West cannot defend is the murders committed by (Israeli) settlers," Erdogan added, suggesting that the term "settler" should be replaced with "occupying terrorist".

The president also underlined that with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, Muslim countries have come together in an unprecedented way to take charge of regional issues.

In the case of Gaza, the organisation united its members around a common policy and led to a shift in discourse in which Gaza shall not be discussed in a setting that excludes a two-state solution, Erdogan said.

"As a result of our joint pressure, we saw that some European countries understood our position and started to embrace our arguments," he stressed.