ISTANBUL, February 15. /TASS/. Turkey will seek to hold Israel criminally liable for the crimes it has committed in the Gaza Strip by any diplomatic means necessary, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said.

"Using all means of diplomacy, we will continue to fight to put an end to Israel's atrocities [in Palestine] with which it has put a black spot on the conscience of humanity. We will also work to ensure that it receives the punishment it deserves for the crimes it has committed," the top diplomat said at a news conference in Ankara broadcast on social media.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier urged action from the international community, led by the UN, to confront Israel, which is trying to evict residents from the Palestinian enclave. He also said that his country was ready to act as a guarantor in the settlement of the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 200 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as a response to Israeli authorities’ aggressive actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

On December 1, the Israeli army accused Hamas of violating the truce that had been in effect since November 24 and announced that it would resume fighting in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian authorities held the United States responsible for the renewed Israeli aggression.