Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has branded Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “the butcher of Gaza” and accused him of spawning anti-Semitism across the world, AFP reports.

Erdogan has lashed out repeatedly at Israel for the scale of death and destruction caused by its response to the October 7 attack by Hamas. He has branded Israel a “terrorist state” and called Hamas “a liberation group”.

“Netanyahu has already written his name in history as the butcher of Gaza,” Erdogan said in nationally televised remarks.

“Statements made by the Netanyahu administration diminish our hopes for the humanitarian pause to be transformed into a lasting ceasefire,” Erdogan said.