10 March 2012 / TODAYSZAMAN.COM,
Turkey has strongly condemned Israel over its air strikes that killed 15 Palestinians in Gaza on Friday and Saturday, calling on the world not to remain indifferent and react to what it said Israel’s “disproportionate and indiscriminate retaliatory attacks.”
Israel pounded Gaza for the second day in a row on Saturday, trading airstrikes and rocket fire with Palestinian militants and killing 15 of them as the deadliest Gaza violence in over a year showed no signs of abating.
Tit-for-tat exchanges between Israel and Palestinians have been routine since the 2009 war, but a flare-up of this intensity is rare. The Arab League called the Israeli attacks a "massacre." The United Nations condemned the violence and called on both sides to exercise restraint.
The latest spate of violence got under way Friday afternoon, when an Israeli airstrike on a car in Gaza City killed top militant commander Zuhair al-Qaissi and two of his underlings. It was the highest-profile killing Israel has carried out in many months, interrupting a period of relative calm on the volatile southern front.
Almost immediately, Gaza militants unleashed a barrage of rockets toward southern Israeli border communities.
So far, militants have fired more than 100 rockets since al-Qaissi's killing, a major escalation from recent months. Palestinian militants fired some 50 rockets toward Israel in the previous three months.
This weekend's events are the deadliest in Gaza in more than a year.
The current fighting could spiral out of control if Palestinian militants manage to kill Israeli civilians or if the Israeli strikes kill Palestinian civilians or another top militant.
Turkey said it is concerned over new and dangerous escalation of violence in Gaza Strip. A statement released by the Turkish Foreign Ministry noted that it strongly condemns disproportiante and indiscriminate retalaitory attacks on Gaza that cause death Palestinian civilians.
It said new cycle of violence in the region will benefit no one who is siding with peace and called on the internaitonal community not to remain indifferent to attacks and display necessary reaction. Turkey demanded immediate calm in the strip.
“We ask Israel once again to end its inhumane and unacceptable policies toward Gaza,” the statement concluded.
Tit-for-tat exchanges between Israel and Palestinians have been routine since the 2009 war, but a flare-up of this intensity is rare. The Arab League called the Israeli attacks a "massacre." The United Nations condemned the violence and called on both sides to exercise restraint.
The latest spate of violence got under way Friday afternoon, when an Israeli airstrike on a car in Gaza City killed top militant commander Zuhair al-Qaissi and two of his underlings. It was the highest-profile killing Israel has carried out in many months, interrupting a period of relative calm on the volatile southern front.
Almost immediately, Gaza militants unleashed a barrage of rockets toward southern Israeli border communities.
So far, militants have fired more than 100 rockets since al-Qaissi's killing, a major escalation from recent months. Palestinian militants fired some 50 rockets toward Israel in the previous three months.
This weekend's events are the deadliest in Gaza in more than a year.
The current fighting could spiral out of control if Palestinian militants manage to kill Israeli civilians or if the Israeli strikes kill Palestinian civilians or another top militant.
Turkey said it is concerned over new and dangerous escalation of violence in Gaza Strip. A statement released by the Turkish Foreign Ministry noted that it strongly condemns disproportiante and indiscriminate retalaitory attacks on Gaza that cause death Palestinian civilians.
It said new cycle of violence in the region will benefit no one who is siding with peace and called on the internaitonal community not to remain indifferent to attacks and display necessary reaction. Turkey demanded immediate calm in the strip.
“We ask Israel once again to end its inhumane and unacceptable policies toward Gaza,” the statement concluded.
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