Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that his country does not consider Hamas a terrorist organization. He canceled his trip to Israel, as well as the planned visits of other Turkish officials, Anadolu reports.

"We have no problems with the state of Israel, but we have never approved of the atrocities committed by Israel and its style of acting like an organization, not a state," Erdogan said, commenting on Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip.

The Turkish president believes that "almost half of those killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip are children."

"Hamas is not a terrorist organization, but a group of liberators and mujahideen fighting to protect their lands and citizens," Erdogan said.

He said that he had planned to visit Israel, but the trip was canceled.

"When the forces they rely on today disappear tomorrow, the first place the Israeli people will look for trust and mercy will be Turkey, just like 500 years ago. I call on all other countries with intelligence and conscience to put pressure on the Netanyahu government to bring the state of Israel back to sanity," Erdogan added.