ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Russia’s Vladimir Putin discussed in a phone call tensions in Gaza and Jerusalem, Turkey’s presidency said on Wednesday, as Ankara seeks international action against Israel.
Israel carried out hundreds of air strikes in Gaza into Wednesday morning as the Islamist group Hamas and other Palestinian militants fired rocket barrages over the border, in the most intense exchange in years that killed at least 35 people.
Erdogan told Putin the international community needed to “teach a deterrent lesson” to Israel, adding that Ankara was working to mobilise this reaction, according to a statement from his office.
Erdogan also called for work to be done on sending international peacekeepers to the region to help safeguard Palestinians, a proposal Turkey has made since 2018.
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Jonathan Spicer)
