Muslim countries' response to Israel's Gaza massacre inadequate — Erdogan

The Turkish president has criticised the lack of response from Muslim countries in addressing the ongoing genocide in Gaza, while accusing the Western nations of providing full support to Israel.

“A handful of Western countries have provided all kinds of support to Israel, while the failure of Muslim countries to respond adequately has led to the situation reaching this point,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday at the Extraordinary Joint Summit Meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

Erdogan said Türkiye has so far sent over 84,000 tons of aid to Gaza, and is ready to send much more when restrictions are lifted.

Israel cannot even tolerate the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza and has been keeping aid supplies waiting in Egypt for months, Erdogan further said. "We are ready" to implement all tangible actions that will show the heavy cost of the Netanyahu government's continued occupation of Palestinian territory, the Turkish president said.

“We should encourage as many countries as possible to intervene in the case filed by South Africa against Israel at the International Court of Justice,” he underlined.

Regional tensions have escalated due to Israel’s brutal offensive on Gaza, which has killed more than 43,600 people, mostly women and children, following Palestinian resistance group Hamas attack last year.

As the conflict spread to Lebanon with Israel launching deadly strikes across the country, nearly 3,200 people have been killed and more than 13,800 others injured in Israeli attacks since last year, according to Lebanese health authorities.

Despite international warnings that the Middle East region was on the brink of a regional war, Tel Aviv expanded the conflict by launching on October 1 a ground invasion into southern Lebanon.