Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that it is impossible to remain spectators to the crimes committed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Palestine, describing him as a tyrant.

During a speech at the launch of the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday week event in Ankara, Erdogan added, “If half of our hearts are here now, the other half is in Gaza, Palestine, Yemen, Sudan, and Afghanistan, where the wounds of the Islamic nation are bleeding.”

Erdogan affirmed, “We are not desperate or pessimistic, and we will not be. Despite the injustice and lack of justice in our region, we will never allow despair to control us.”

Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli aggression on Gaza has resulted in 63,746 deaths and 161,245 injuries, mostly children and women, thousands missing, hundreds of thousands displaced, and a famine that killed 367 Palestinians, including 131 children, as of Wednesday.