ANKARA, September 21. /TASS/. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan believes that Israel acts as a terrorist organization, its target being not only the Gaza Strip but the whole region.

"I have been saying all along that Israel targets not only the Gaza Strip. The recent attacks on Lebanon have confirmed our suspicion that the Israeli leadership's plan is to spread the war to the entire region. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his gang have been staging all kinds of provocations to implement their radical Zionist ideology. The pressure on Israel must be intensified further to prevent the region from being dragged into an even greater disaster," Erdogan told the media before flying to the United States for the UN General Assembly session.

He said he would address the UNGA on the first day to ask the participants to remember "the need for taking action against genocide in the Gaza Strip and Israel's aggressive policies."

"Once again, unfortunately, we see that Israel is carrying out attacks not as a state but as a terrorist organization. This is state terrorism. The latest digital attacks [the explosions of communication devices in Lebanon] are a very clear confirmation of this. With this attack Israel clearly demonstrated that it does not care about civilians and will try to achieve its mean aims goals at any cost," Erdogan said.

About the schedule of his meetings on the sidelines of the UNGA Erdogan said that "at the moment there is no certainty whether there will be a meeting with US President Joe Biden," but there are events within the framework of the General Assembly where both of them would be present.