Turkey strongly condemns "provocations" by Israeli forces during raids on a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin and the desecration of a mosque there, Turkey's foreign ministry said, calling for those responsible to be punished.
Israeli military vehicles pass by during a raid, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank December 14, 2023. Reuters/Raneen Sawafta
Turkey strongly condemns "provocations" by Israeli forces during raids on a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin and the desecration of a mosque there, Turkey's foreign ministry said, calling for those responsible to be punished.
Israeli troops killed a youth at a hospital and read out Jewish prayers at a mosque in Jenin during the raids that Palestinian authorities said killed 12 and that Israel said helped capture dozens of militants.
"We strongly condemn the provocations of Israeli soldiers who stormed the Jenin Refugee Camp, and disrespected sanctity of a place of worship by entering the mosque," Spokesman Oncu Keceli said on social messaging platform X late on Thursday.
"In East Jerusalem and the West Bank, where tensions are running extremely high due to settler terror and heavy pressure and attacks by Israeli security forces against Palestinians, we expect attacks on Muslim holy places to be ended immediately and those who perpetrate these provocations to be punished in the most severe way," he added.
The Palestinian government criticised the operation inside Jenin as a "dangerous escalation" and in a statement said the desecration of the mosque by some Israeli troops fanned religious tension. Israel's army said it would discipline the soldiers.
Turkey, which supports a two-state solution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has harshly criticised Israel for its attacks on Gaza and in the West Bank, saying the Israeli settlers in the region were "terrorists". It has called for an immediate ceasefire and slammed Western support for Israel.
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Lincoln Feast)
The Israeli army announced Monday that it had carried out strikes on several tanks near the southern Syrian city of Sweida, amid ongoing clashes between Sunni Bedouin tribes and Druze fighters that have reportedly left dozens dead.
In a surprising development, senior officials from Syria and Israel are expected to meet Saturday on the sidelines of a visit by Syria’s interim president, Ahmad al-Shaarah, to Azerbaijan.
Talks aimed at securing a ceasefire in Gaza are stalling over the extent of Israeli forces' withdrawal from the Palestinian enclave, Palestinian and Israeli sources familiar with the negotiations in Doha said on Saturday.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.