Turkey’s communications director criticized the US early Wednesday for considering Israeli attacks on Palestinians self-defense.
“Massacring civilians. Forcing Palestinians to leave their homes and occupying their lands. Attacking mosques. Murdering innocent children. Since when are all those atrocities considered self-defense?” Fahrettin Altun said on Twitter.
“Does the US have not any reaction to these massacres and terrorist acts?” he said.
Massacring civilians
Forcing Palestinians to leave their homes and occupying their lands
Attacking mosques
Murdering innocent children. Since when are all those atrocities considered as self defense?
Does the US have not any reaction to these massacres and terrorist acts? https://t.co/3wwNRkZYSe
— Fahrettin Altun (@fahrettinaltun) May 11, 2021
Tensions have been running high in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem since last week, when an Israeli court ordered the eviction of Palestinian families, which was later delayed.
Palestinians protesting in solidarity with residents of Sheikh Jarrah have been targeted by Israeli forces.
The escalation resulted in airstrikes by Israel on Gaza, which has left scores of people dead and hundreds of others wounded.
Read more: Israel kick-starting a grand plan to rebuild the 3rd Temple?
Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and annexed the entire city in 1980 – a move that has never been recognized by the international community.
OIC condemned Israel violence
The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation has condemned Israel and reiterated support for Palestinians, as fatal unrest escalates.
The OIC “condemns in the strongest terms the repeated attacks by the Israeli occupation authorities against the Palestinian people”, the pan-Islamic body based in the Saudi city of Jeddah said in a statement on Tuesday after an emergency session.
It also condemned “the Israeli occupation forces’ continuation of their colonial programmes — building settlements, attempting to confiscate Palestinian properties, forceful eviction of Palestinians from their land”.
Read more: WATCH: Israeli settlers celebrate blaze in Masjid Al-Aqsa
Tensions have soared over Israel’s planned eviction of Palestinians from a district in east Jerusalem, which the Jewish state sees as part of its eternal capital but is considered occupied by the United Nations.
Several nights of clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police, particularly around the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, spiralled on Monday night into a barrage of rocket fire from Gaza and deadly Israeli airstrikes in retaliation.
Anadolu with additional input by GVS News Desk