ISTANBUL

Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday slammed the Israeli administration, labeling it a "hatred-fueled genocide network", noting that it is dragging the region into its worst turmoil of the century.

The war launched on Iran continues to engulf the region in "blood and gunpowder," with missiles targeting innocent children attending school, Erdogan told provincial leaders of his Justice and Development (AK) Party in the Turkish capital Ankara, referring to the bombed school in Minab, Iran.

The Netanyahu government is not only targeting Iran, but it is also gradually implementing plans to invade Lebanon, he warned.

“Although the war is Israel’s war, the heavy cost it produces is first paid by Muslims, and then by all of humanity," he said.

Türkiye neither discriminates "among its brothers, neighbors" nor stands idly by while they suffer, Erdogan added.

Erdogan said that Türkiye has rejected all actions and conversations that would deepen grievances "among brotherly peoples," fuel hostility, and provide logistical support to "Zionism’s divide and rule" plans targeting the region.

What difference is there between the tears shed in Isfahan, Tabriz, and Tehran and those shed in Erbil, Amman, Baghdad, Beirut, Sana’a, Doha, Riyadh, and our other brother cities across the region?

"In the eyes of this network of massacre, what difference does it make whether our names are Ali, Murtaza, Omar, Aisha, Zaynab, Hasan, or Hussein? Whether in Iran or in the Gulf, with every missile that is fired, isn’t it us who are harmed, struck, and left bleeding?” he questioned.

On Israel's decision not to allow Muslims to perform their Eid prayers in Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque, Erdogan said that blocking Eid prayers at Al-Aqsa, for the first time since 1967, is an "impertinent" attack on 2 billion Muslims’ faith.

Muslims’ right to worship at Al-Aqsa Mosque cannot be taken, blocked, or banned, "no matter the pretext," the Turkish leader added, slamming the Israeli government.

“We will not step back from our peaceful foreign policy, which we have grounded in the principle of peace for everyone, stability for everyone, and prosperity for everyone," he vowed.