In an interview with Israel’s Channel 2, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appeared to refuse to back down from his previous comments equating Israel's actions in Gaza in 2014 with Nazi atrocities.

Erdogan, in this first interview with the Israeli media since the renconcilation process between Israel and Turkey, was asked by journalist Ilana Dayan of Channel 2's "Uvda" program whether he regretted those remarks.

“I don’t agree with what Hitler did and I also don’t agree with what Israel did in Gaza. Therefore there’s no place for comparison in order to say what’s more barbaric,” Erdogan said when reminded of his 2014 comments.

Asked if he was conscious of the shock his reference to Hitler caused among Jews, Erdogan said “I’m very well aware… But is the Jewish community aware of what is done (in Gaza)? Thousands of people bombed in Gaza and Palestine” in the 2014 war with Hamas.

‘’Instead of walking back his his previous statements comparing Hitler and Israel's actions in the 2014 conflict with Hamas in Gaza, Erdogan deflected the conversation from the reference to the systematic murder of more than six million Jews by the Nazis to the Palestinian death count in Operation Protective Edge,’’ The Jerusalem Post noted.

Erdogan said that Israel killed thousands of people in “Gaza and Palestine.”

Speaking of Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the Gaza Strip, Erdogan said that he doesn't believe that they are a terrorist organization, calling it instead a ‘’legitimate political party’’ and a “refugee movement born out nationalism” that must be part of any future peace deal.

The Turkish president admitted that he meets with Hamas "all the time." "In this regard I'm very open, I have no hidden agenda," he stated.

He called for Palestinian elections, saying Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s ruling Fatah party has been ineffective. He placed the onus for the failure of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks squarely on Israel, saying he would be willing to broker talks, but that Israel has refused such overtures. He also said he was in “constant contact” with Hamas.

He also accused Israel of failing to respect the holiness of Jerusalem, accusing it of trying to change the status quo at the Al-Aksa compound (the Temple Mount). “Jerusalem is holy to three religions. You have to respect that,” he said.