Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated on Saturday Ankara “firmly backs” Palestinian militant group Hamas.

“No-one can make us qualify Hamas as a terrorist organisation,” he stated in a speech in Istanbul. “Turkey is a country that speaks openly with Hamas leaders and firmly backs them.”

Erdogan has been one of the vital virulent critics of Israel because the begin of the conflict in Gaza, which started after an October 7 assault by Hamas in Israel that claimed at the very least 1,160 lives, in response to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.

Israel has responded with a relentless floor and air offensive that the well being ministry in Hamas-run Gaza stated has killed at the very least 30,878 individuals within the besieged Palestinian enclave, largely girls and kids.

Erdogan has known as Israel a “terrorist state” and accused it of conducting a “genocide” in Gaza.