Israel-Gaza conflict: Turkish PM says Israel 'will drown in the blood it has shed' in heated condemnation

France has said foreign nations must impose a "political solution" on Israel and Gaza and that the former’s right to security "does not justify" the deaths of Palestinian civilians.

France, it appears, has sought to distance itself from the increasing death toll of innocents as the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) leads a charge against Hamas.

However, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's words were more potent last night, as he condemned Israel, accusing it of deliberately killing Palestinian mothers and warned that the it would "drown in the blood it sheds."

He was speaking to thousands of supporters during a rally in Istanbul ahead of a 10 August election.

"Just like Hitler, who sought to establish a race free of all faults, Israel is chasing after the same target," Mr Erdogan said, according to Reuters.

"They kill women so that they will not give birth to Palestinians; they kill babies so that they won't grow up; they kill men so they can't defend their country ... They will drown in the blood they shed."

Today, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius' statement was one of the strongest given by a western European nation.

He said: “How many more deaths will it take to stop what must be called the carnage in Gaza?,” according to English-language French outlet The Local.

“The tradition of friendship between Israel and France is an old one and Israel's right to security is total, but this right does not justify the killing of children and the slaughter of civilians.

“That is why we support and demand the establishment of a real ceasefire as proposed by Egypt and why we are ready, as French and Europeans, to contribute to it in a concrete way.

“It is also why a political solution is essential... and should in my opinion be imposed by the international community.”

With more than 1,800 Palestinians and 60 Israelis now dead, Mr Fabius’ statement comes amid international outrage at an Israeli attack on a UN school in Gaza on Saturday, which killed 10.

open image in gallery

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called the assault “a moral outrage and a criminal act” after the victims had taken shelter in the school after taking instructions from the military to leave their homes. He also called on those responsible to be brought to account.

It was the seventh time a UN shelter has been struck since fighting began in the beginning of July.

British Prime Minister David Cameron stopped short of employing the language used by the UN Secretary General and the French Foreign Minister, instead declaring that Ban Ki-moon had been right to the condemn the strike.

open image in gallery

Speaking on BBC Breakfast this morning, he said civilians should not be targeted and called for an “immediate comprehensive humanitarian ceasefire.”

“We obviously do think it is appalling the loss of life that there has been. From the start, though, we have also made the point that if the Hamas rocket attacks on Israel stop then that would be probably the fastest way to stop this conflict,” he added.

Militant leader, Daniel Mansour, the commander of the Islamic Jihad group, which is allied with Hamas, has been killed in the Gaza Strip, the group said today.

A “humanitarian” ceasefire was reportedly beached by Israel minutes after it was called today, following an air strike on a house in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, which killed an eight-year-old girl and wounded 29 others.