President Erdoğan says Israel heading into isolation
Israeli security forces patrol as Palestinian Muslims perform the Friday noon prayer on a street, eastern Jerusalem, occupied Palestine, Dec.15, 2023. (AFP Photo)


President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Israel is now heading toward international isolation, a trend which will only grow in the coming days.

Answering a question on Israel's stance rejecting cease-fire and vow to continue attacks with or without international support, Erdoğan said they could no longer expect "goodwill" from Israel.

"But what is really important now is how the world sees it. At the United Nations General Assembly, 121 countries initially opposed Israel's actions. Now things changed and more countries joined us (calling for an immediate cease-fire)," he told reporters on Friday.

Erdoğan said during a phone call Thursday with his U.S. counterpart Biden, they extensively discussed developments in Gaza, with Erdoğan telling Biden that now is the time for the U.S. to step in.

Erdoğan said he told Biden that the U.S. needed to intervene to end the fighting in Gaza, adding that crimes against humanity were being committed in the enclave.

Further, on a phone call with Biden, Erdoğan said that the U.S. President was approaching the issue of selling F-16 fighter jets and modernization kits to Türkiye positively but that Washington's main issue was the ratification of Sweden's NATO bid.

"Developments regarding the F-16s made up the main points of this call. Biden said he has a positive approach and that he is ready to make all sorts of proposals to Congress about this," he said.