During more than an hour of talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, US top diplomat Antony Blinken “emphasised the need to prevent the conflict from spreading”, AFP quotes the US State Department as saying.

Blinken also pointed to the need to “work toward broader, lasting regional peace that ensures Israel’s security and advances the establishment of a Palestinian state”, it said.

A Turkish diplomatic source said Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan pressed Blinken during a separate meeting for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza that could ensure the smooth delivery of aid.

The Turkish president has turned into one of the Muslim world’s harshest critics of Washington’s support for Israel’s Gaza campaign. Erdogan has compared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler, and accused the United States of sponsoring the “genocide” of Palestinians.

He has also rebuffed US pressure to cut off the suspected flow of funding to Hamas through Turkiye, and defended the group as legitimately elected “liberators” fighting for their land.