Last week, lawyers for the ruling Justice and Development Party in Turkiye said that the country had filed a lawsuit against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with the International Criminal Court (ICC), accusing him of "committing genocide" in the Gaza Strip. On Tuesday, Erdogan called Israel a "terrorist state," adding that Netanyahu possesses nuclear weapons but "[his] end is near."
"We will not hesitate to use all available mechanisms to hold Israeli leaders accountable before the law and history," Erdogan said during an international ceremony celebrating the 750th anniversary of prominent poet and philosopher Rumi.
On October 7, Palestinian movement Hamas launched a large-scale rocket attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip across the border, killing over 1,200 people and abducting some 240 others. Israel launched retaliatory strikes, ordered a complete blockade of Gaza and launched a ground incursion into the Palestinian enclave with the declared goal of eliminating Hamas fighters and rescuing the hostages. Over 18,700 people have been killed so far in Gaza as a result of the conflict, according to local authorities.