Hamas aren't terrorists, but liberators and mujahideen, Erdoğan says. Israel responds

This was reported by AA.com.

He spoke to his party members in parliament.

"Hamas is not a terrorist organization, it is a group of liberators and mujahideen fighting to protect their lands and citizens," President Erdogan said and added: "Almost half of those killed in Israel's attacks on Gaza are children. Even this picture shows that the goal is cruelty aimed at committing crimes against humanity. Israel's attacks on Gaza are a sign of both murder and mental illness for both those who committed it and those who supported it."

The President rejected the Iraqi-Syrian resolution and said: "Turkey's fight against terrorism has gained even more strength. History will not forgive those who gave terrorists a lifeline by saying NO to this proposal. We will continue to dismantle the corridor of terror that they are trying to establish on our borders with new operations and oppose the dirty campaigns that are being carried out."

Regarding the situation in Gaza, he said that Turkey has no complaints against Israel as a state, but cannot accept its brutality and behavior as an organization.

"We have no problem with the state of Israel, but we have never approved and will never approve of the atrocities committed by Israel and the way it acts as an organization, not as a state. I call on all other countries of reason and conscience to put pressure on the Netanyahu government to bring the Israeli government to its senses," Erdoğan added.

The president added that he had intended to go to Israel, but decided against it.

In turn, the Israeli Foreign Ministry responded to Erdoğan's statement.

"Israel rejects with disgust the harsh words of the Turkish President regarding the Hamas terrorist organization. Hamas is a vile terrorist organization, worse than ISIS, which brutally and deliberately kills babies, children, women and the elderly, takes civilians hostage and uses its own people as human shields. Even the Turkish president's attempt to defend the terrorist organization and his incendiary words will not change the horrors the whole world has seen and the unequivocal fact: Hamas = ISIS," the statement says. 

• On October 21, Turkish President Recep Erdoğan had a telephone conversation with Esmail Qaani, head of Hamas's political bureau, during which the parties discussed the removal of the wounded from Gaza for treatment in Istanbul.

• On October 22, Turkey sent an airplane to Egypt with a team of doctors and humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip.