Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has condemned the Israeli attack on Gaza Strip, labeling it as another crime against humanity, Anadolu news agency reported on Thursday.

The Israeli army said a day earlier that it had started a large-scale operation to eliminate key militant commanders and "terrorist infrastructure" in the Gaza Strip controlled by Hamas.

Speaking to Turkish journalists after a meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Djibouti, Davutoglu said the crime against humanity was committed against the people in Gaza, which has already become an open-air prison.

Also, earlier, Turkey called on the international community and the United Nations to launch the necessary initiatives against Israel's military operation in Gaza, according to a written statement released by the Turkish Foreign Ministry on Wednesday.

Turkey said Israel's operation against Gaza was the latest example of the country's hostile policies.

"We harshly condemn Israel's offensive and it must be stopped immediately," the statement said, adding that no country, including Israel, was above international law.

Besides, stressing that the Turkish people have always supported Gaza, Davutoglu said that it was unfathomable that peace would be restored in the Middle East by committing massacres and assassinations.

Turkey will take the necessary measures to stop the Israeli Air Force's strikes on the Gaza Strip, TRT Haber TV channel quoted the Turkish foreign minister as saying.

He said all Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip threaten the safety of civilians.

Davutoglu noted that he spoke to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about Israel's attacks, and conveyed the reactions of OIC member states.

During the phone conversation the minister urged Clinton to press on Israel in order to ease tension in the region. He said it was important to take steps to de-escalate tension on both sides, Hurriyet Daily News reported Friday.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul also said the entire world is waiting for the U.S. to warn Israel about the necessity to stop air strikes on the Gaza Strip.

Davutoglu also conveyed the frustration of the Palestinian Authority that the Israeli assault came after recent sanctions against the Palestinians to block their upcoming initiative in the U.N. to be recognized as a non-member state.

"Regardless of Hamas or Fatah, President Mahmoud Abbas thinks that the attack was conducted over the Palestinian initiative," Hürriyet Daily News quoted Turkish Foreign Ministry officials.

Turkey is concerned that mounting tension over the Gaza issue may also exacerbate current problems like the Syrian crisis, according to Turkish officials.

However, US President Barack Obama said Washington supports Israel's "right to self-defense" as the deadly airstrikes by Tel Aviv on the Gaza Strip were underway, Press TV reported on Thursday.

The US president reiterated "Israel's right to self-defense" in a telephone conversation with Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi on Wednesday, the White House said in a statement.

Obama took the same stance in a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Meanwhile, US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice also defended the Israeli offensive against the Palestinians at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Wednesday.

The Israeli government reportedly conducts airstrikes and ground attacks over the Palestinian territory on an almost regular basis.

Iran's condemnation

Iran said Thursday that as the chair of Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) it strongly condemns the attacks on Gaza Strip and urges all member states to sever relations with Israel, IRNA news agency reported.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Iran "considers the criminal acts of Israel's forces in killing civilians as organized terrorism".

Mehmanparast noted that killing the innocent people of Palestine has become a habit for the Zionist regime of Israel because of the silence of international organizations which claim to be advocating for human rights.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi on Thursday sent letters to international and regional organizations urging them to condemn what Tehran labels as Israeli atrocities against the Palestinians and take necessary measures to immediately stop the violence.

According to the Foreign Ministry press office, Salehi sent separate letters to the secretary generals of the United Nations, Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the United Nations Human Rights Council and the European Union high representative for foreign policy and security affairs.

In the letters, Salehi said such savage atrocities have made people in the region and the world worry about threats of Israeli mass killings of the Palestinian people, which will certainly cause instability in the entire region.

The Iranian foreign minister urged immediate and serious action by the international organizations "to stop the aggression against the people in Gaza Strip, who have been under siege for several years", and prevent a humanitarian catastrophe.

Calling for an end to Gaza siege, he said the legitimate rights of the Palestinian nation can be reinstated through liberation of the occupied lands.

UN concerned over escalation of violence

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed his concern to Israeli PM Netanyahu over the phone on Wednesday about the deteriorating situation in southern Israel and Gaza, which includes an alarming escalation of indiscriminate rocket fire from Gaza into Israel and the targeted killing by Israel of a Hamas military operative in Gaza, the UN website said.

The secretary-general reiterated his strong condemnation of rocket fire out of Gaza and noted his expectation that Israeli reactions are measured so as not to provoke "a new cycle of bloodshed" that could cause additional civilian casualties and have dangerous spillover effects in the region.

He also called on the parties to exercise the utmost restraint and to respect international humanitarian law.

The 15-member UN Security Council met Wednesday night behind closed doors, with the participation of the two parties, and heard a briefing on the situation from Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman.

Russia has also strongly condemned the latest wave of Israel's aerial attacks on Gaza Strip, Press TV reported.

"Further escalation of violence would be impermissible," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich told reporters in Moscow on Thursday.

He added that the disproportionate strikes in Gaza Strip are totally unacceptable, especially given the civilian casualties.

Lukashevich noted that Moscow is deeply concerned with what is going on in Gaza Strip and calls for the bloodshed to come to an end.

On the other hand, the Israeli embassy in Ankara said Israel could not accept the continuous indiscriminate rocket fire against its citizens, Anadolu reported on Thursday.

In a statement, the embassy said that "Hamas and terror organizations" had been constantly escalating their attacks on the citizens of Israel since November 8, adding, "Israel has shown great restraint in the face of numerous past escalations, yet it cannot accept the continuous indiscriminate rocket fire against its citizens."

"Since yesterday Israel has attacked Hamas strategic targets, and debilitated their ability to launch rockets from Gaza to the center of its populace. Israel is not interested in escalation; the goal of the operation is the removal of the strategic threat of rockets launched at civilians," it added.

At least 15 Palestinians, including senior Hamas commander Ahmed al-Ja'abari, have been reportedly killed in the Israeli airstrikes on the besieged Gaza Strip since November 14.

Operation Pillar of Cloud has been a large scale operation carried out over the past four years. Tanks and naval ships were deployed in the shelling of Gaza in addition to planes. Representatives of the Israeli political leadership and military command did not rule out a land invasion.

Last time Israel brought ground troops into the enclave was in the winter of 2008-2009. Then the victims of the operation amounted to about 1,400 Palestinians.