UPDATE - Türkiye to ensure those responsible for Gaza massacre face trial in international courts: Turkish president

UPDATES WITH MORE REMAKRS FROM TURKISH PRESIDENT RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN

By Muhammed Enes Calli

ISTANBUL (AA) – Türkiye will take steps to ensure that political and military leaders who “ruthlessly” massacred people in Gaza face trial in the international courts, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday.

Calling Israel a “terrorist state,” the Turkish leader accused Tel Aviv of implementing a strategy of destroying all of Gaza along with its residents.

Speaking at the Justice and Development (AK) Party’s parliamentary group meeting in Ankara, Erdogan addressed Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying: “You are threatening with an atomic bomb, a nuclear bomb. It does not matter what you have, you are a goner.”

If Israel continues its massacres, it will be seen everywhere in the world as a "universally condemned terrorist state," he added.

"Those who kill babies in incubators, those who rain bombs on innocent people they have displaced from their homes, those who condemn people to death by cutting off their water, food, and fuel, those who talk about destroying over 2 million civilians with an atomic bomb..."

"No matter how many nuclear bombs you have or whatever you possess, you are on your way out. Those who have lost everything in terms of ethics, conscience, and honor are not human; they can only be monsters."

Erdogan added he would also talk to the leaders of countries that abstained from voting on an immediate humanitarian truce in Gaza at the UN.

"We never hesitate to say that Hamas (is made up of) resistance fighters striving to protect their homeland, despite the discomfort it may cause some."

Criticizing the approach of Western countries towards the Israel-Palestine conflict, Erdogan stressed that Israel, with unlimited support from the US and the West, has been continuing its massacres for continuous 40 days.

"You label Hamas as a terrorist organization. Hamas is a political party that participated in elections to win in Palestine."

"After winning the election, you took away its rights. Israel and America did it together. Let's see these facts. But still, there are people even in my country who don't know or understand that Hamas is a political party."

Nearly two-thirds of the around 12,000 Gazans killed by Israel so far were children and women, said Erdogan, adding that Israel has launched the most "treacherous attacks" in the history of humanity against people in Gaza.

"All concepts, including war, are insufficient to describe what we have witnessed in Gaza for the past 40 days. Because even war has its ethics, manners, laws, and limits."

He emphasized that the first rule of the laws of war is not to harm children, women, the elderly, and the sick.

- Israel committing 'genocide' in Gaza

Calling Israel's attacks on Gaza "genocide," Erdogan said thousands of lawyers are making efforts to take all necessary steps to bring these criminals to the International Court of Justice for committing genocide.

Those who say 'I am human' cannot approve of or find excuses for what is happening in Gaza, Erdogan said.

"While condemning the Israeli government, we do not forget those who openly support these massacres and make efforts to legitimize them."

"Those who remain silent on the war crimes committed by Israel are accomplices in these crimes as much as the perpetrators."

"Can you imagine, every day hundreds of children are dying under the bombs, and those who constantly talk about human rights from the EU to the US cannot say a word?"

He added that the UN Security Council cannot even protect the lives of civilians in Gaza, including its own staff.

"Israeli ministers confess to having nuclear weapons in front of cameras, and the International Atomic Energy Agency does not take any action."

Those who permit the burning of the Holy Quran in their countries under the guise of “freedom of expression” are detaining, and trying every possible means to silence those who protest against the massacre in Gaza, he stressed.

Erdogan recalled that world leaders marched in Paris in solidarity following the killing of 25 people in attacks after Charlie Hebdo published caricatures of Prophet Mohammad.

"Now, nearly 13,000 people have died (in Gaza), where are the presidents and prime ministers of the world?"

"This issue is a clash between the cross and the crescent. We see the issue in this way."

Israel has launched relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas on Oct. 7.

At least 11,320 Palestinians have been killed, including nearly 7,800 women and children, and over 29,200 others have been injured, according to the latest figures from Palestinian authorities.

Thousands of buildings, including hospitals, mosques, and churches, have been damaged or destroyed in the Israeli offensive.

The Israeli death toll, meanwhile, stands at 1,200, according to official figures.

On Sweden's NATO membership, Erdogan told reporters following his speech at the parliament that the bill proposing Sweden's NATO accession protocol is currently in the parliamentary committee.

"We are also monitoring what Sweden is doing," he added.