At UN, Erdogan accuses Israel of ‘genocidal mindset,’ calls on world to help rebuild Gaza

In his address to the United Nations General Assembly, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan launches a blistering attack on Israel over the war in Gaza and other policies affecting Palestinians, accusing it of “acts of state terror” and saying the enclave has become “the most inhumane and shameful concentration camp of our time.”

The leader opens his Turkish-language address by calling on countries that have not recognized a Palestinian state to do so, while denouncing the denial of a visa to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Turning to the situation in Gaza, Erdogan says that “in Gaza alone, over the past three years, we have lost 74,000 of our brothers and sisters, most of them women and children, mind you,” saying, “we lost them to what we regard as acts of state terror by Israel,” and saying the enclave has become “the most inhumane and shameful concentration camp of our time.”

“We are faced with a genocidal mindset that can never get enough of killing,” he says of Israel, saying no one with “moral consciousness” can ignore the issue, to which parts of the assembly respond with several seconds of applause.

Erdogan also accuses Israel of refusing to advance the second stage of US President Donald Trump’s ceasefire agreement, while lamenting that the West Bank is experiencing severe settler “violence and terror” and that Muslims and Christians are being denied access to holy sites in Jerusalem.

The president calls for world leaders to “exert greater pressure” on Israel to advance the reconstruction of Gaza, which he says must begin “as soon as possible” amid stalled efforts by Trump’s Board of Peace to advance Washington’s peace plan for the Strip.

Israel’s delegation at the UN left during Erdogan’s speech.

Israel’s relations with Turkey, once a close security ally, have drastically deteriorated following Erdogan’s rise to power, and have largely collapsed since the start of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. Erdogan has likened Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Hitler, while the premier has called his Turkish counterpart an “antisemitic dictator” and condemned him for “committing genocide against the Kurds” while supporting the Hamas terror group.