President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan criticized Israel for committing what he said the "biggest genocide of the century" in Gaza with weapons and diplomatic support of countries that have been lecturing others about human rights and international law.
Speaking at the International Benevolence Awards ceremony in the capital Ankara, Erdoğan said countries that have been providing logistics and military support to Israel are complicit in the blood shed by Israel.
"Israeli forces have turned Gaza, which was already an open-air prison due to the blockade, into a children's cemetery in the past 229 days," Erdoğan said.
He also said that as long as Western powers continue to stand behind Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu despite all "his arrogance and recklessness," massacres in Palestine cannot be prevented.
The Turkish leader warned that if Zionist expansionism continues like this the world is "prone to new conflicts."
"Israel has lost this war and been condemned in the eyes of humanity," he further added.
He also welcomed a decision by three European nations to recognize the state of Palestine, urging other countries to make similar decisions.
"I am very pleased with today's announcements" by Norway, Ireland, and Spain that they will recognize the state of Palestine, he said.
The decision to recognize the state of Palestine comes as Israel continues its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, 2023, despite a U.N. Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in the enclave.
Palestine is already recognized by eight European countries: Bulgaria, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, Sweden, and the Greek Cypriot administration.
More than 35,700 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and nearly 80,000 others injured since last October following an attack by the Palestinian group Hamas.
More than seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered it to ensure that its forces do not commit acts of genocide and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
