Turkey rally fallout: Tel Aviv recalls diplomats after Erdogan calls Israel occupier, vows to declare it war criminal

Israeli foreign minister Eli Cohen's statement came shortly after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan repeated his assertion that Hamas was not a terrorist organization and described Israel as an occupier.

Ankara/Tel Aviv: Israel's Foreign Minister Eli Cohen on Saturday recalled diplomatic representatives from Turkey "in order to conduct a reassessment of Israel-Turkey relations".

"Given the grave statements coming from Turkey, I have ordered the return of diplomatic representatives there in order to conduct a reevaluation of the relations between Israel and Turkey," he wrote in a statement he made on X, formerly known as Twitter. Cohen's statement came shortly after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan repeated his assertion that Hamas was not a terrorist organization and described Israel as an occupier.

• Given the grave statements coming from Turkey, I have ordered the return of diplomatic representatives there in order to conduct a reevaluation of the relations between Israel and Turkey.

  — אלי כהן | Eli Cohen (@elicoh1) October 28, 2023 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="

  Given the grave statements coming from Turkey, I have ordered the return of diplomatic representatives there in order to conduct a reevaluation of the relations between Israel and Turkey.

  — אלי כהן | Eli Cohen (@elicoh1) October 28, 2023

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  Given the grave statements coming from Turkey, I have ordered the return of diplomatic representatives there in order to conduct a reevaluation of the relations between Israel and Turkey.

  — אלי כהן | Eli Cohen (@elicoh1) October 28, 2023

"Israel has been openly committing war crimes for 22 days, but the Western leaders cannot even call on Israel for a ceasefire, let alone react to it," Erdogan told the crowd in Istanbul, who waved Palestinian flags...We will tell the whole world that Israel is a war criminal. We are making preparations for this. We will declare Israel a war criminal," he said. Erdogan did not elaborate, and his office said it could not comment on the statement.

In his address to hundreds of thousands of people who joined the rally, Erdogan also held Western countries responsible for the deaths in Gaza for failing to stop Israel’s attacks. Turkey recently restored full diplomatic ties with Israel, but the president has stepped up his criticism of the country. He asserted this week that Hamas was not a terrorist organization but a liberation group fighting for its lands and people. Yusuf Islam, the musician formerly known as Cat Stevens, was among the participants at the Istanbul rally.

Israel launched an expanded ground operation on Saturday after knocking out communications and creating a near-blackout of information in the Gaza Strip with increased bombardment and artillery fire overnight.

Israel’s defence minister said that “the ground shook in Gaza” and that the war against the Palestinian territory’s Hamas rulers had entered a new stage. Gaza residents described the massive overnight bombardment from the sea and the air as the most intense of the 3-week-old Israel-Hamas war.

Other countries, United Nations officials and aid agencies described a dire situation on the ground in Gaza as ambulances left without cellphone or radio service resorted to chasing the sound of artillery fire to local people wounded. The Palestinian death toll since the war started passed 7,700, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza. In the occupied West Bank, more than 110 Palestinians have been killed in violence and Israeli raids.

More than 1,400 people were slain in Israel during a surprise incursion by Hamas militants, including at least 310 soldiers, according to the Israeli government. At least 229 hostages were taken into Gaza, and four hostages were released earlier. (With AP inputs)