Israel has brought back its diplomats from Turkey in response to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's accusation that Israel is acting like a "war criminal.

" Erdogan made these remarks during a pro-Palestinian rally in Istanbul, where he was addressing a large crowd of demonstrators.

In reaction to Erdogan's statement, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen instructed diplomats to return. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted that Israel maintains "the most moral army in the world."

This move came amid an escalation in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip, following Hamas's attack on southern Israel three weeks earlier, which resulted in over 1,400 casualties and 229 hostages. According to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, over 7,500 Palestinians have been killed in the retaliatory strikes carried out by Israel.

During his address to a crowd of several hundred thousand Palestinian supporters, President Erdogan placed blame on "the West" as the primary culprit behind the unfolding Gaza massacre.

"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," he said.

He accused Israel of behaving like a "war criminal" and accused it of trying to "eradicate" Palestinians.

He continued: "Of course, every country has the right to defend itself. But where is the justice in this case? There is no justice - just a vicious massacre happening in Gaza."

It follows posts from the Turkish leader earlier on Saturday on X, formerly known as Twitter, in which he said the latest escalation had targeted "innocent civilians" and worsened Gaza's humanitarian crisis, adding: "Israel must immediately stop this madness and end its attacks".

Moments after President Erdogan finished his remarks at the rally, Israel's Foreign Minister Mr Cohen said on X: "Given the grave statements coming from Turkey, I have ordered the return of diplomatic representatives there to conduct a re-evaluation of the relations between Israel and Turkey."

Israeli Prime Minister Mr Netanyahu later said: "Don't accuse us of war crimes. If you think that you can accuse our soldiers of war crimes that is hypocrisy. We are the most moral army in the world."

He added the Israel Defense Forces is taking precautions to protect civilians, and accused Hamas of committing crimes against humanity by "using their people as human shields".

The two countries have a history of tense relations.

Once close allies, Turkey broke off diplomatic ties with Israel in 2010 after 10 pro-Palestinian Turkish activists were killed in clashes with Israeli commandos who boarded a Turkish-owned ship trying to break Israel's maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Relations were restored in 2016, but they expelled each other's top diplomats in 2018 in a dispute over Israel's killing of Palestinians amid protests on the Gaza-Israel border.

Turkey does not consider Hamas a terrorist organization - unlike countries including the US and UK. It has long hosted its members and supports a two-state solution.

Noted

Noted