President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and his administration have been openly committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza with unlimited support from Western powers.
Speaking in a joint news conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ankara, Erdoğan said Israel has been killing Palestinian civilians in defiance of the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) interim ruling ordering Tel Aviv to take all measures within its power to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza.
"Netanyahu and his insane administration have been openly carrying out genocide against Palestinian people with the unlimited support of Western countries," he said.
The president added that Netanyahu and his "partners in crime" will ultimately be held accountable before the law.
"As Türkiye, we strive and will continue to work toward this," he said.
Erdoğan also warned against calls by radical far-right Israeli politicians, urging Tel Aviv to prohibit Palestinian Muslims from entering holy sites during the month of Ramadan.
"We are conveying our messages to the relevant authorities regarding the need to prevent provocations ahead of the upcoming month of Ramadan," Erdoğan said.
"The demands of radical Israeli politicians to restrict Muslims' access to the Harem al-Sharif are complete nonsense. The consequences of taking such a step will undoubtedly be very grave."
Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir had recently said that Palestinian residents of the West Bank "should not be allowed" entry to Jerusalem to pray during Ramadan.
Ben Gvir leads an extremist Jewish party advocating Jewish control of the compound and is known for his provocative remarks.
Days later, the United States called on Israel to allow Muslims to worship at Al-Aqsa.
Shortly before Erdoğan's statement, Netanyahu's office announced that Israel would allow as many Muslim worshippers to access Al-Aqsa Mosque compound during the first week of Ramadan.
"In the first week of Ramadan, worshippers will be allowed to enter the Temple Mount, in similar numbers to those in previous years," the statement said, using the Jewish term for the site, adding that there would be a "a situation assessment in terms of security and safety" every week.
An Israeli extremist minister recently called for the cancellation of Islam's holy month Ramadan as a "solution" for tensions in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu told Army Radio, "The so-called month of Ramadan must be wiped out, and our fear of this month must also be wiped out."
The president also criticized the illegal confiscation of Palestinian lands by Israeli "settlers."
"Violent actions of Israeli thieves, referred to as so-called settlers, who steal and confiscate Palestinian lands, are one of the biggest obstacles in the way of solution," he said.
Settler violence toward Palestinians in the West Bank has grown since the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas, in the face of ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.
He continued by reiterating that the only path to lasting peace is through the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital within the 1967 borders.
Before the Hamas assault, 2023 was already the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank in over two decades, with 250 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire.
Israel captured the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war.
Settlers claim the West Bank as their historical birthright. Most of the international community considers the settlements, home to 700,000 Israelis, illegal. However, Israel considers the West Bank disputed land and says the settlements’ fate should be decided in negotiations.
International law says the military, as the occupying power, must protect Palestinian civilians. But in nearly six decades of occupation, Israeli soldiers often failed to protect Palestinians from settler attacks or even joined in.
Israel has launched a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas incursion, which Tel Aviv said killed fewer than 1,200 people.
Over 30,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since Oct. 7 and 70,457 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.
Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.
The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the U.N.
Israel is accused of genocide by the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
