Turkey's Erdogan denounces UN 'Israel protection council'

ISTANBUL (AFP/Reuters) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday denounced the UN Security Council after the United States vetoed a ceasefire resolution for Gaza, describing the international body as the 'Israel protection council'.

"Since October 7, the security council has become an Israel protection and defence council," Erdogan said. The United States on Friday vetoed a Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in the intense fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Washington thus dashed a growing clamour for a halt to fighting that had been led by UN chief Antonio Guterres and Arab nations. "Is this justice?" asked Erdogan, adding that "the world is bigger than five," a reference to the five veto-wielding nations in the UN Security Council.

"Another world is possible, but without America," the Turkish leader said. "The United States stands by Israel with its money and military equipment. Hey, America! How much are you going to pay for that?" he added. "Every day the Declaration of Human Rights is violated in Gaza", he said, as the world this weekend celebrates the 75th anniversary of the declaration.

He called for the United Nations Security Council to be reformed, decrying the fact that the United States could veto a ceasefire proposal for Gaza despite huge support from other countries.

"The United Nations Security Council demand for ceasefire is rejected only by US veto. Is this justice?," Erdogan said in a human rights conference in Istanbul. "The U.N. Security Council needs to be reformed," he added.

The UN resolution for a ceasefire was submitted more than two months after the start of the war in Gaza triggered by Hamas's bloody attack on Israeli soil on October 7, which, according to the Israeli authorities, killed 1,200 people. Since then Hamas has put the martyrs' toll in Gaza at 17,490, mostly women and children.