Israel is not conducting itself "like a state" in the Gaza Strip, Turkey's president said on Wednesday, as Israel pounded the territory after a Hamas onslaught.
"Israel should not forget that if it acts more like an organisation rather than a state, it'll finish by being treated as such," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, attacking "shameful methods" of the Israeli army in the densely-populated Gaza Strip.
"Bombing civilian sites, killing civilians, blocking humanitarian aid and trying to present these as achievements are the acts of an organisation and not a state," he said.
"We think that a war should have an ethic and that both parties should respect it. Unfortunately, this principle is gravely violated in Israel and in Gaza," he said, denouncing the "murders of civilians on Israeli territory" and "the blind massacre of innocents in a Gaza subjected to constant bombardment".
Turkish President and the leader of the Justice and Development (AK) Party Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during his party's group meeting at the Turkish Grand National Assembly in Ankara, Turkiye on Wednesday. AFP
