President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told U.S. President Joe Biden that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's administration consistently shows it does not want cease-fire and peace, expressing Türkiye's disappointment about his Congress speech.
In a phone call, Erdoğan expressed Türkiye's outrage about Israel's assassination of Hamas political bureau leader Ismail Haniyeh, the chief negotiator for the Palestinian side in the Gaza cease-fire talks.
He noted that the assassination dealt a heavy blow to cease-fire efforts and that Tel Aviv wants to spread Gaza violence across the region.
Besides Gaza, the two leaders also discussed Türkiye-U.S. bilateral relations, the recent prisoner exchange coordinated by Türkiye's National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and regional and global developments, the Presidential Communications Directorate said.
For his part, Biden thanked Erdoğan for Türkiye's contributions to the effective prisoner exchange operation with Russia.