Erdogan walked out of a televised debate on Thursday with Shimon Peres, the Israeli president, after the moderator refused to allow him to rebut Peres' justification about the war.

Before storming out, Erdogan told Shimon Peres, the Israeli president: "You are killing people."

Moderator David Ignatius, a Washington Post columnist, told Erdogan that he had "only a minute" to respond to a lengthy monologue by Peres.

Erdogan said: "I find it very sad that people applaud what you said. There have been many people killed. And I think that it is very wrong and it is not humanitarian."

Ignatius twice attempted to finish the debate, saying, "We really do need to get people to dinner."

Erdogan then said: "Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. I don't think I will come back to Davos after this."