Israel has outdone Nazi Germany, says Turkish president

Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has decried the relentless onslaught of Israel against Palestinians in besieged Gaza and the West Bank, branding these acts as indelible stains on human history.

Israel has been perpetrating these massacres with unwavering backing from the West, Erdogan told a Justice and Development (AK) Party group meeting in the Turkish Parliament on Wednesday.

Stressing that Israeli forces have killed over 14,000 innocent children in Gaza since October 7, Erdogan exclaimed that Tel Aviv had outdone the cruelty of Nazi Germany and its leader Adolf Hitler.

Saying that no one can question Türkiye’s sensitivity to the Palestinian issue, Erdogan added that the Palestinian cause gave his life new meaning.

“As long as Allah grants me life, I will continue to defend the struggle of Palestine, and will be the voice of the oppressed Palestinian people,” he added.

President recalled the moment 15 years ago, at the 2009 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, when he challenged the Israeli leadership and its oppression of Palestinians, in an encounter that went viral, by objecting, “One minute!”

"When no one else would speak, we stood up and said: 'Hamas is not a terrorist organisation, but a resistance group.' We presented maps at the UN showing how Israel has gradually occupied the lands of Palestine over the past 70 years," he added.

"We stood by our Palestinian brothers and sisters in every way, especially during the most difficult times. We have mobilised all our resources for Palestine, for the oppressed people of Gaza," Erdogan stressed.

He reiterated Türkiye’s determination to courageously defend Palestine’s struggle for independence under any and all circumstances.

Haniya to visit Türkiye

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Ismail Haniya, the head of the Hamas political bureau met in Doha on Wednesday to discuss the latest on Gaza according to diplomatic sources.

Fidan held a meeting with Haniya and his delegation, and deliberated on issues concerning humanitarian assistance to Gaza, ceasefire, as well as hostages, the sources added.

According to a statement from Erdogan, Haniya is set to visit Türkiye this weekend.

Since an October 7 cross-border attack by Hamas which killed some 1,200 people, Israel has waged a relentless offensive on Gaza, taking the lives of nearly 34,000 people, most of them women and children, and injuring almost 77,000 others.

Israel’s war on Gaza has pushed 85 percent of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while over 60 percent of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.​​​​​​​

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.