Israel's war on Gaza could drag entire region into conflict, warns Erdogan

Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has cautioned that if Israel continues its attacks on Palestinians, tensions would further escalate and conflict could spread to the entire Middle East.

“President Erdogan stressed the importance of reducing tensions between Israel and Iran to prevent the entire region from descending into conflict,” during his meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry in Istanbul, the country’s Communications Directorate wrote on X on Saturday.

The president “underlined the vital importance of exercising prudence and strategic thinking for a lasting solution in the region,” it added.

During the meeting, Erdogan also stressed the necessity of establishing an immediate and permanent ceasefire, as well as measures that ensure the uninterrupted flow of humanitarian aid into Palestine's Gaza.

Aside from Israel's attacks on Palestine's Gaza and tensions in the Middle East, the two leaders discussed bilateral relations and a range of global and regional issues.

Earlier, Erdogan also met with Hamas Political Bureau Chief Ismail Haniya. Evaluating the tensions between Israel and Iran, he emphasised that such events should not distract the international community from the atrocities Israel continues to inflict in Gaza.

Israeli occupation "primary cause of instability"

Earlier on Saturday, Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan received his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry and the two held a joint news conference.

“The occupation of Palestinian territories by Israel and the unconditional support of the West for this are one of the main reasons for the instability problem in the Middle East,” Fidan said during his address.

Unless this is addressed, tensions in the region will continue to escalate, he said, also noting that "If this crisis is not resolved properly, if Palestinians are not given the state, independence, and sovereignty they deserve, such crises will continue to escalate in our region."

"Other countries shouldn't fall into the luxury of thinking that ‘these things will only happen in the Middle East, they won't affect us.' They shouldn't dismiss anything like that,” he added, warning that Israel's relentless war on Gaza may trigger global issues.

Shoukry, for his part, demanded for the six Israeli crossings with besieged Gaza to be opened for humanitarian aid. He stressed that the “failure to do so violates international law.”

The Egyptian top diplomat also stressed that the Iran-Israel tension “diverted the international community's attention from the tragic situation in Gaza.”

Over 34,000 Palestinians killed in Israeli attacks

Flouting the International Court of Justice’s provisional ruling, Israel continues its onslaught in Gaza where at least 34,049 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and 76,901 injured since October 7, according to Palestinian health authorities.

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.

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

Hostilities have continued unabated, however, and aid deliveries remain woefully insufficient to address the humanitarian catastrophe.