Israel’s foreign minister recalled diplomats from Turkey amid worsening relations between the two countries. Eli Cohen also said that Israel will evaluate its relations with Turkey.

“Given the serious statements from Turkey, I ordered to return diplomatic representatives there to reassess relations between Israel and Turkey,” he said.

This comes after Turkish President Erdogan repeated his claims that Israel is the occupier of Palestine and that Hamas militants are not terrorists.

“Israel has been openly committing war crimes for 22 days, but Western leaders cannot even ask Israel for a ceasefire, let alone react to it,” Erdogan told a crowd in Istanbul, waving Palestinian flags.

“We will tell the whole world that Israel is a war criminal. We are preparing for it. We will declare Israel a war criminal,” he said.

He stated this at a mass pro-Palestinian rally held today in Istanbul