Türkiye on Saturday retorted an Israeli official accusing Ankara of supporting Palestinian resistance group Hamas’ freedom fighters in the death of a German Israeli dual citizen.
The Foreign Ministry countered with Anadolu Agency’s (AA) photos proving that war crimes are being committed in the Gaza Strip under Israeli bombardment.
"This is our response to the spokesperson of the Israeli government accused of genocide, Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz," the ministry wrote on X, with images from AA’s "Evidence" book.
The post included images of children killed in Israeli attacks, Gazans carrying shrouded bodies and mass graves.
Katz previously targeted President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a post on X.
"@RTErdogan, these are your Hamas partners whom you call 'freedom fighters,' who kidnapped the body of Shani Louk, a young Israeli with German citizenship, to Gaza after torturing her at the Nova music festival and murdering her. Yesterday,@IDF soldiers recovered her body from Gaza to bring her to burial – you should be silent and ashamed!" he said.
Erdoğan has been one of the most virulent critics of Israel since the start of the war on Gaza, which began after Israel harshly retaliated by killing over 35,300 people so far, mostly women and children, to an Oct. 7 attack by Palestinian group Hamas in Israel that claimed at least 1,160 lives, according to Israel. He has expressed full support for Hamas and rejected the Western stance of classifying it as a terrorist organization.
Erdoğan has called Israel a "terrorist state" and accused it of conducting a "genocide" in Gaza, as Israel stands trial at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on charges of genocide.
Last month, he and Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu also traded barbs after the Turkish leader compared him to the Nazis for the war crimes Israel is committing against Palestinians.
In addition to using plain genocidal rhetoric regarding Gazans, Israeli officials have also been accused of purposefully spreading fake news of Hamas’ crimes during its Oct. 7 incursion, namely beheading babies and raping Israeli women, all of which have since been refuted by media organizations.