Turkey’s Erdogan asks ‘goner’ Benjamin Netanyahu: ‘Do you have nuclear bombs’

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Israel was a “terror state” committing war crimes and violating international law in Gaza. Speaking to lawmakers in the country’s parliament, Erdogan repeated his view that Hamas was not a terrorist organisation.

Called on Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to announce whether Israel had nuclear bombs or not, Erdogan said that the Israeli premier was a “goner” from his post.

He said Hamas was a political party that had been elected by Palestinians.

This comes after Israeli forces entered Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital that they claim Hamas operates out of. Mohammed Zaqout, the director of hospitals in Gaza, said Israeli tanks were inside the medical compound and soldiers had entered buildings, including the emergency and surgery departments.

The Israeli army said that Hamas was using hospitals as cover for its fighters and has set up its main command center in and beneath Shifa Hospital, the largest in the besieged territory.

Earlier, Tayyip Erdogan called for an immediate ceasefire between Israeli and Palestinian forces saying that Muslim countries must act together to secure a lasting peace in the region.

“Hamas is not a terrorist organisation, it is a liberation group, ‘mujahideen’ waging a battle to protect its lands and people,” he said, slamming West for supporting Israel’s retaliation against Hamas.

“Western tears shed for Israel are a manifestation of fraud,” he had said, while, Turkey foreign minister Hakan Fidan said that Israel committed “a crime against humanity” in its war in Gaza while speaking in Qatar.

“Targeting our Palestinian brothers, including children, patients and the elderly, even in schools, hospitals and mosques, is a crime against humanity,” he said.