Israel will not be able to escape accountability for all the oppression it has caused in Palestine since World War II, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Wednesday as the war in Gaza entered its second month.
"The more the Israeli administration escalates its oppression, the heavier the price it will pay," Erdoğan said after a Cabinet meeting in the capital Ankara.
"Israeli rulers will sooner or later be tried in the court of humanity, suffer the punishment they deserve, and take their place in the dustbin of history," he added.
Erdoğan also criticized the U.S. and Europe for their "unlimited support" to Israel, saying that, had they not given their backing, "rulers of this terrorist state could not act recklessly."
The West has clearly demonstrated that it only cares about its prosperity, and is complicit in the brutality in Gaza, acting solely on its inherent barbaric instincts, Erdoğan said.
"Institutions like the U.N. Security Council, displaying their impotence, have strayed from being the common roof of humanity," said Erdoğan, adding that "sincere support" from U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has also been thwarted by permanent members.
"To mercilessly kill innocent children, women, unarmed and helpless people with the world's most modern war machines is wretchedness exclusive to cowardly leaders like those in Israel.
"It is certain that Israel, with its trembling heart and legs in the face of a handful of civilians in Gaza, will be shattered when confronted with a real army, a real power. We hope that the Israeli government gathers its senses before such a painful fate becomes necessary," the Turkish president said.
The only way to bring peace to the region is through the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, based on the 1967 borders, he added.
Israel resumed its military offensive on the Palestinian territory on Friday after the end of a weeklong humanitarian pause with the Palestinian group Hamas.
At least 16,248 Palestinians have been killed and more than 43,616 others injured in relentless air and ground attacks on the enclave since Oct. 7 following a cross-border attack by Hamas.
The Israeli death toll in the Hamas attack stood at 1,200, according to official figures.
Vow to fight terror
Erdoğan on Wednesday further reiterated Ankara’s resolute fight against terrorism, saying, "Türkiye will not allow terror organizations along its southern Syria border and northern Iraq."
"We will by no means allow a terrorist organization in Türkiye's south, Syria's north or Iraq's north to exist," Erdoğan stressed.
Turning to Syria's northern city of Tal Rifaat, he said Türkiye is successfully implementing its strategy to eliminate terrorism at its source, and a climate of peace and security prevails in the regions that Ankara cleared of terrorists in northern Syria.
"We will ultimately secure the places near our border where terrorists cluster, particularly Tal Rifaat," he added.
About Türkiye's Operation Claw Lock in northern Iraq, Erdoğan said: "We constantly increase the pressure on terrorists with our point operations from air and land."
His remarks came after Turkish security forces "neutralized" 11 PKK terrorists in northern Iraq in the Operation Claw Lock zone on Wednesday.
Turkish authorities use the term "neutralize" to imply the terrorists in question surrendered or were killed or captured.
Türkiye launched Operation Claw-Lock last year in April to target the PKK terror group's hideouts in the Metina, Zap, and Avasin-Basyan regions of northern Iraq, located near the Turkish border.
In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Türkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the US, and EU – has been responsible for the deaths of more than 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.