Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Israel and its backers are responsible for every person who has died in Gaza due to severe food, water and medicine shortages, Anadolu reports.

“The responsibility for every innocent person who dies in Gaza due to starvation, thirst, or lack of medicine lies with Israel and its supporters,” Erdogan said in a news conference with visiting Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in the capital Ankara.

Erdogan stressed that the “culprits” who are behind the death of 41,000 people in Gaza should be standing in courtrooms, not at congressional podiums. He underlined that Tel Aviv has maintained an “uncompromising, obstructive” stance in Gaza cease-fire talks with Palestinian groups.

Referring to the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas’ political bureau, he said Tel Aviv showed its mentality by killing the person with whom it was negotiating a truce.

“Preventing Israel from dragging our region into further tension can only be achieved by abandoning ambivalent policies,” Erdogan further said.