Ankara, 02 April (RT) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has launched a blistering attack on Benjamin Netanyahu, calling his Israeli counterpart the “leader of a terrorist state” following the deadly shooting of protesters in Gaza.

Erdogan made the comments at his party’s congress in southern Turkey. Addressing the event, the president slammed Netanyahu’s criticism of Turkey’s military operation in Syria. “I do not need to tell the world how cruel the Israeli army is. We can see what this terror state is doing by looking at the situation in Gaza and Jerusalem,” Erdogan said, according to the Daily Sabah.

"Israel has carried out a massacre in Gaza and Netanyahu is a terrorist. We will continue to expose Israeli terror all the time and on all platforms,” he added.

Erdogan’s remarks are just the latest in a rapidly escalating war of words between the two nations. Earlier this week, Netanyahu suggested that Erdogan was playing an April Fool’s Day prank when his spokesman described Friday’s killing of protesters in Gaza as “inhumane.”

More than 1,400 people were injured and 17 were killed when the Israeli military opened fire on Palestinian protesters on the border between Gaza and Israel Friday. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) also used rubber bullets and tear gas on the demonstrators.