Speaking to reporters after a cabinet meeting on Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan emphasized that if the UN Security Council fails to stop Israeli attacks in Gaza and Lebanon, the UN General Assembly should recommend the use of force.
"The United Nations General Assembly should recommend the use of force, in line with a resolution it passed in 1950, if the U.N. Security Council fails to stop Israel's attacks in Gaza and Lebanon," Erdoğan said in a statement.
"The U.N. General Assembly should rapidly implement the authority to recommend the use of force, as it did with the 1950 Uniting for Peace resolution, if the Security Council can't show the necessary will," Erdoğan said after a cabinet meeting in Ankara.
He also urged Muslim countries to take economic, diplomatic, and political steps against Israel to pressure it into accepting a ceasefire, and added Israel's attacks would target them too if it is not stopped soon.
"Today, standing up for Palestine, Lebanon means standing up for the humanity, peace, and the culture of coexistence among different beliefs," Erdoğan said after a Cabinet meeting in the Turkish capital Ankara.
"A handful of radical Zionists, blinded by blood and hatred, are setting the region and the whole world on fire. We will never consent to this cruelty and barbarism," he said about Israel's continuing attacks on Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon.
He added that standing up for Palestine and Lebanon means standing up for "humanity, peace, and the culture of coexistence among different beliefs."
"Islamic countries should have the biggest reaction to oppression in the Gaza, West Bank, and Lebanon. As Muslims, we need to lead the world in curbing oppression," he added.
The Uniting for Peace resolution, passed in November 1950, says that in any cases where the Security Council, due to a lack of agreement among its five permanent members, does not act as needed for the sake of international security and peace, the General Assembly can issue appropriate recommendations to UN members for collective measures, including the use of armed force when necessary.
Erdoğan has frequently criticized the UN Security Council's failure to act over the last year as Israel killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and also launched massive airstrikes in Lebanon in recent weeks.
On Turkish humanitarian assistance to Lebanon, Erdoğan said Türkiye delivered 30 tons of humanitarian aid to embattled Lebanon on Wednesday and will continue to do so as long as security conditions permit.
Since Sept. 23, Israel has launched massive airstrikes against what it calls Hezbollah targets across Lebanon, killing more than 960 people and injuring over 2,770 others, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.
Several Hezbollah leaders have been killed in the assault, including the group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in cross-border warfare since the start of Israel's war on Gaza, which has killed nearly 41,600 people, most of them women and children, following a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas last October.
The international community has warned that Israeli attacks in Lebanon could escalate the Gaza conflict into a wider regional war.
