Erdogan: Israel's Netanyahu will go down in history as ‘butcher of Gaza’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will go down in history as “the butcher of Gaza” after he committed one of the worst and biggest atrocities in the century, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday.

Erdogan told members of his Justice and Development Party (AKP) that statements from members of Netanyahu’s government reduce hopes of making the humanitarian truce a permanent ceasefire.

Meanwhile, Erdogan confirmed that a second Turkish ship carrying 1,500 tonnes of humanitarian aid for Gaza left Turkiye, noting that Ankara will intensify its efforts to release the Israeli prisoners of war and make the ceasefire permanent in the Gaza Strip.

The Turkish president added that Gazans have been subjected to the most heinous and despicable attacks in human history since 7 October where mosques have been bombed, schools and hospitals destroyed, shelters were deliberately targeted, and bombs fell on displaced civilians on the roads.

“Israel burned and destroyed Gaza for 50 days in front of the eyes of the whole world, and committed all kinds of atrocities ….. two-thirds of the buildings in Gaza were destroyed, damaged or became uninhabitable, and the educational infrastructure collapsed,” Erdogan said, stressing that Palestinians in Gaza will never forget the crimes against humanity and war crimes committed against them and the Western countries’ inaction.

“Turkiye will try by all available means to hold the Israeli administration accountable before international law,” he added.

READ: ‘Enough evidence’ of war crimes in Gaza, says Israeli-American Holocaust Professor