Turkey’s Erdoğan calls Israel ‘terror state’ as he condemns Gaza hospital raid
Turkey has led international diplomatic condemnation of Israel after its troops entered the Shifa hospital complex in Gaza, as the UN and aid agencies expressed concern about the impact of the Israeli operation on staff and patients.
Speaking in parliament, Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, described Israel as a “terror state” that was committing war crimes and violating international law in Gaza, and he repeated his view that Hamas was not a terror organisation.
Erdoğan called on Benjamin Netanyahu to announce whether Israel had nuclear bombs or not, and claimed that the Israeli leader was finished in his post. He went on to say that Turkey would work on the international stage to ensure that Israeli settlers were recognised as terrorists.
Turkey has withdrawn diplomats from Israel in the wake of Israel’s response to the 7 October Hamas attack. Israel has never disclosed in public whether it possesses nuclear weapons, although earlier in the war against Hamas a junior minister in Netanyahu’s government stated that dropping a nuclear weapon on the Gaza Strip was an option.
Erdogan’s latest comments drew a fierce response from Israel, where the opposition leader, Yair Lapid, said: “We won’t take lessons in morality from President Erdoğan, a man with an appalling human rights record. Israel is defending itself against brutal terrorists from Hamas-Isis, some of whom have been allowed to operate under Erdoğan’s roof.”
The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, had already enraged Israel by calling on its forces to stop “killing babies”.
Israel is under pressure internationally to produce evidence that the basement of the hospital was being used as a Hamas HQ, as it has long claimed.
Troops had found weapons and “terror infrastructure” at one specific location within the hospital, a senior IDF official said. Hamas said the claim was a “blatant lie”.
The White House said on Tuesday that it possessed intelligence to show the hospital was being used by Hamas, adding that it did not support airstrikes on the hospital nor it being the venue for a firefight. Israeli officials said no fighting had taken place inside the hospital since soldiers arrived during the night.
The UN humanitarian agency chief, Martin Griffiths, said on X: “I am appalled by reports of military raid at al-Shifa hospital. The protection of newborns, patients, medical staff and all civilians must override all other concerns. Hospitals are not battlegrounds.”
The World Health Organization director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the agency had lost touch with staff at the hospital again. “We’re extremely worried for their and their patients’ safety,” he said.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was “extremely concerned about the impact on sick and wounded people, medical staff, and civilians”. “All measures to avoid any consequences on them must be taken,” the ICRC said, insisting that “patients, medical staff and civilians must be at all times protected”.
Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees, said the agency’s operation in Gaza was on the verge of collapse. “By the end of today, around 70% of the population in Gaza won’t have access to clean water,” he said.
The French foreign ministry said France was deeply concerned about the military operations at al-Shifa. “No use of civilian infrastructure for military purposes is acceptable,” it said. “The Palestinian population should not have to pay for the crimes of Hamas, and even less so the vulnerable, wounded or sick and the humanitarian workers.”
Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, urged Israel to end the “indiscriminate killing of Palestinians” in Gaza. “We demand an immediate ceasefire on the part of Israel in Gaza and strict compliance with international humanitarian law, which today is clearly not respected,” he said during a debate in parliament.
The Jordanian ministry of foreign affairs said the hospital raid was a violation of the Geneva conventions of 1949 and it held Israel “responsible for the safety of civilians and medical personnel working at the hospital”.
The Palestinian Authority’s foreign ministry accused the Israeli army of having “flagrantly violated” international law by launching a military operation against the hospital and called for an international intervention to protect civilians there.
In the only bright diplomatic news, the first truck carrying a UN fuel shipment into Gaza since Israel imposed its siege crossed from Egypt on Wednesday, though it will do little to alleviate shortages that have hampered relief efforts.
The delivery was made possible by Israel giving its approval for 24,000 litres (6,340 gallons) of diesel fuel to be allowed into Gaza for UN aid distribution trucks, though not for use at hospitals, according to a humanitarian source.
“This is only 9% of what we need daily to sustain life-saving activities,” Tom White, the director of the UN relief agency in Gaza, posted on X. He confirmed that just over 23,000 litres, or half a tanker, had been received.