Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan led an enormous protest in Istanbul towards Israel

Istanbul:

Israel stated Saturday it was recalling its diplomatic employees from Turkey after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivered a fierce assault on its navy operation towards Hamas militants in Gaza.

The determination delivered a physique blow to the perimeters’ nascent efforts to revive political and financial relations after a decade of all however frozen ties.

Israel and Turkey — an overwhelmingly Muslim nation that varieties the bulwark of NATO defences on the sting of the Middle East — had solely simply agreed to reappoint ambassadors final 12 months.

They had been additionally restarting discussions on a US-backed pure gasoline pipeline mission that might have shaped the premise for a lot nearer and extra lasting cooperation within the coming years.

But their relations have unravelled as Erdogan picks up the tempo and venom of his assaults on Israel’s retaliatory navy operation towards Hamas within the Gaza Strip.

Hamas militants staged a shock assault on October 7 throughout which they killed 1,400 individuals, principally civilians, and seized greater than 220 hostages.

The Hamas-controlled well being ministry in Gaza has stated Israeli strikes have  killed 7,703 individuals — primarily civilians — with greater than 3,500 of them kids.

Erodgan’s Islamic-rooted social gathering staged an enormous rally in Istanbul on Saturday that the president stated drew an estimated a crowd of 1.5 million individuals.

“Israel, you are an occupier,” he informed the Turkish and Palestinian-flag waving sea of supporters.

He accused the Israel authorities of behaving like a “war criminal” and making an attempt to “eradicate” Palestinians.

“Of course, every country has the right to defend itself. But where is the justice in this case? There is no justice — just a vicious massacre happening in Gaza.”

Israeli ordered the return of all diplomatic employees from Turkey moments after Erdogan completed his remarks.

“Given the grave statements coming from Turkey, I have ordered the return of diplomatic representatives there in order to conduct a reevaluation of the relations between Israel and Turkey,” Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen stated in an announcement.

‘Crusade’

Erdogan has been a number one worldwide supporter of Palestinian rights throughout his two-decade rule.

He took a extra cautious line within the first days after the October 7 assault by Hamas, however has turn out to be way more vocal because the reported loss of life toll from Israel’s navy response has grown.

Erdogan informed Saturday’s rally that Israel was “a pawn in the region” that was being utilized by Western powers to stamp their authority on the Middle East.

“The main culprit behind the massacre unfolding in Gaza is the West,” Erdogan declared.

“If we leave aside some conscientious voices… the massacre in Gaza is entirely the work of the West.”

And he accused Israel’s allies of making a “crusade war atmosphere” pitting Christians towards Muslims.

“Listen to our call for dialogue,” Erdogan stated. “No one loses from a just peace.”

Erdogan’s handle got here in response to days of pro-Palestinian protests in Istanbul and different main cities organised by Turkey’s extra right-wing and Islamic conservative teams.

But one ballot launched this week confirmed nearly all of respondents preferring to see Turkey stay both impartial or attempt to play a mediating function within the conflict.

The Metropoll survey confirmed 11.3 p.c of the respondents saying they “back Hamas”.

But 34.5 p.c stated Turkey ought to keep “neutral” and 26.4 p.c stated it ought to mediate.

Just 3.0 p.c stated they “support Israel”.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)