Erdogan blames Israel for ‘ecocide’ in Gaza

Israel’s Foreign Ministry responded sharply to Erdogan, who has a long history of incendiary rhetoric against the Jewish state.

By World Israel News Staff

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan used his address at the United Nations climate conference COP31 to attack Israel, accusing the Jewish state of committing “ecocide” in the Gaza Strip.

“What has taken place in Gaza is not only a genocide, but it is also an ecocide,” Erdogan said, in remarks that were met with applause from the audience, according to the Associated Press.

“Centuries-old olive trees have been cut down. The soil and water have been polluted in Gaza, and cities in Gaza have been turned into enormous piles of rubble,” Erdogan said. “With Gaza’s destroyed infrastructure, compounded by torrential rain and by flooding, tens of thousands of tents and shelters have been inundated.”

Erdogan did not address the environmental destruction caused by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel, including damage to natural areas such as the Be’eri Forest. The Hamas-led terror attack killed approximately 1,200 people and triggered the war in Gaza.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry responded sharply to Erdogan, who has a long history of incendiary rhetoric against the Jewish state.

“Once again, Dictator Erdogan is using an international forum to push his anti-Israel campaign of lies,” the ministry wrote on X.

“Hamas, whose leaders are hosted in Erdogan’s Türkiye, is responsible for the devastation in Gaza. Hamas started this war with the October 7th massacre and embedded its military infrastructure in civilian areas,” the statement continued.

“Those who truly care about Gaza should demand that Hamas disarm so reconstruction can begin.”

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian also used the climate conference to condemn environmental damage, blaming the United States and Israel for the destruction caused by Operation Epic Fury.

“The recent criminal and illegal aggression against Iran by America and the Zionist regime… has inflicted severe damage on the environment, releasing massive quantities of pollutants and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere,” Pezeshkian said.

Pezeshkian further claimed that an airstrike on an oil field in southern Iran “resulted in the emission of approximately 500,000 tons of carbon dioxide.”