Turkey's Erdogan threatens to invade Israel over war in Gaza as regional tensions grow

Turkey’s leader on Sunday threatened military intervention in Israel to stop Jerusalem’s war in Gaza in a significant escalation of rhetoric from NATO’s second-largest military.

In a meeting with his Justice and Development Party (AKP), President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Turkey "must be very strong so that Israel can't do these ridiculous things to Palestine."

"Just like we entered Karabakh, just like we entered Libya, we might do similar to them," he said, according to a Reuters report. 

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Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz came back swinging and suggested Erdoğan would meet a similarly deadly fate as Iraq’s former president, Saddam Hussein, who was executed by hanging in 2006.

"Erdoğan follows in the footsteps of Saddam Hussein and threatens to attack Israel. Just let him remember what happened there and how it ended," Katz said in a message posted to X that included a picture of Erdoğan and the former Iraqi leader. 

Fox News Digital could not immediately reach the U.S. State Department, the Turkish Embassy in Washington, D.C., or NATO for comment on how they are working to cool tensions between the NATO nation and the West’s top ally in the Middle East. 

Threats levied by the Turkish president come as Israel faces increasing aggression from Iran-backed Islamic militants, including Hamas, Houthi and Hezbollah terrorist groups. 

Erdoğan did not detail what Turkish military intervention would entail, though he has repeatedly been a harsh critic of the war in Gaza.

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"There is no reason why we cannot do this…We must be strong so that we can take these steps," Erdogan told AKP party officials.

The Turkish leader appeared to be referring to military action Ankara, capital of Turkey, took in 2020 when it sent troops to defend the U.N.-recognized Government of National Accord of Libya amid its civil war, which first broke out in 2014. 

Turkey has denied direct involvement in Azerbaijan's military action in its Nagorno-Karabakh region, where it claims to be carrying out "anti-terror" operations against Armenian rebels. Though in 2023, Ankara reportedly said it was using "all means" to support its ally, including through military training.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not publicly responded to Erdoğan's comments, though he and the Turkish leader have routinely exchanged harsh barbs over the years. 

Both Netanyahu and Erdoğan have compared each other to Adolf Hitler over Turkey's long-running war against Kurdish militants and for Israel’s hostile action against Palestinians.