(NewsWorthy.news) – Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has indicated that Turkish hospitals have treated over a thousand Hamas members for injuries received in the Gaza conflict. Hamas referred to Hamas as a “resistance movement” rather than a terrorist organization, which it is recognized as by the U.K., the U.S. and the E.U.. Erdogan insisted that Hamas is not a terrorist group in October 2023, only days after the organization crossed the border into Israel and massacred over 1,200 people.
Erdogan has not held back in criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the conflict. In April 2024, following Iran’s attempted aerial bombardment of Israel, he claimed that Netanyahu was “solely responsible” for rising tensions in the Middle Eastern region. Erdogan criticized Israel over the bombing of the Iranian embassy in Damascus, which Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for. In November 2023 Erdogan criticized western leaders for supporting Netanyahu’s regime and branded Israel a “terror state”, calling the assault on Gaza a “genocide”. Netanyahu dismissed the Turkish leader’s comments on his policies, saying he would not be “lectured” by Turkey’s government.
The rising tensions between the two nations resulted in Tel Aviv withdrawing diplomatic staff from Ankara as a precaution. In December Erdogan upped his anti-Israel rhetoric, warning of dire consequences if Hamas members were harmed on Turkish soil. In the early days of the conflict, he pressed the U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to avoid escalating tensions and honor his promises made to Palestine in the past. The U.K. has already weighed up the possibility of halting arms sales to Israel if it goes ahead with its controversial assault on Rafah, which houses thousands of refugees, though foreign secretary David Cameron argued that doing so would only strengthen Hamas.
In June 2023 Erdogan vetoed Sweden’s NATO membership, calling on the nation to stop supporting Kurdish “terrorists”. Erdogan highlighted the presence of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Stockholm. The group is classed as a terrorist organization by the E.U., the U.S. and Turkey. Erdogan recently criticized western powers for not pressuring Israel enough to agree to a ceasefire before Tel Aviv went ahead with its planned Rafah offensive against the final stronghold of Hamas. Turkish sources have claimed to reporters that Erdogan “misspoke” in his comments about hospitals, and that Turkey’s hospitals were treating a thousand civilians from Palestine, not Hamas troops.
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