ANKARA: Turkiye`s lawmakers held a closed-door session on Tuesday to discuss the spread of war in the Middle East, a week after President Tayyip Erdogan made an unsubstantiated claim that Israel eventually aimed to encroach on Turkish territory.

Israel has not publicly responded to Erdogan`s claim, which analysts and opposition lawmakers say is far-fetched and is intended primarily to deflect public attention away from Turkiye`s economic woes.

Israel has also not commented publicly on Tuesday`s closed-door parliamentary session in Ankara, which is titled `Israel`s occupation of Lebanon and developments in the region`.

Foreign and defence ministers made presentations at the closed-door session which was requested by the opposition on the risk of the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon widening further.

Nato member Turkiye is among the world`s sharpest critics of what it calls Israel`s illegal and reckless wars with Hamas and Hezbollah. It halted trade with Israel and applied to join a genocide case against it at the World Court.Last week Erdogan told parliament that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was acting out his dream of a `utopia` and `promised land` for Israel.

`After Lebanon, the next place on which Israel will set its eyes will be our homeland,` he told parliament`s opening session, attended by several foreign ambassadors and his cabinet, without providing evidence.

Chaos at borders Devlet Bahceli, leader of Erdogan`s main ally MHP, said on Tuesday it was `likely that chaos in neighbouring countries will reach our borders and that Israel will harass Turkiye` in the near future. But Ozgur Ozel, leader of the main opposition Republican People`s Party (CHP), dismissed such talk.

`It`s unreasonable to think Netanyahu will conduct an assault on Turkiye, which is a Nato member and has a great army,` Ozel told his party.-Reuters