Israel's endgame is to leave Gaza uninhabited, Erdogan warns

Israel’s end game in the Gaza Strip is to leave the besieged enclave “uninhabited" of Palestinians, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday.

Erdogan said that Turkey would not allow Israel to depopulate the Gaza Strip, as he reiterated his view that Israel was a “terror state,” on a a visit to Algeria.

"We cannot and will not tolerate the policy of the State of Israel, which has grown by constantly occupying, seizing land, and massacring the oppressed, to render Gaza uninhabited," he said.

The Israel-Palestine war has upended recent efforts  by Israel and Turkey to revive strained ties.

Israel is one of Turkey's top ten trading partners and Erdogan has pitched economic projects such as a gas pipeline to Israel.