Erdoğan speaks to Palestinian leader Abbas by phone over Israeli violence in Gaza

LONDON – Anadolu Agency

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas by phone late on May 14, according to a presidential source.

The two leaders exchanged views on the relocation of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and Israeli attacks against Palestinians, the source said.

Erdoğan condemned the attacks and wished “Allah’s mercy to all martyrs.”

More than 50 Palestinians were killed by Israeli army gunfire and thousands more were injured during anti-occupation rallies on May 14 along Gaza Strip’s eastern border, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Thousands of Palestinians demonstrated along Gaza Strip’s eastern border on May 14, which coincided with the 70th anniversary of Israel’s establishment in 1948, an event Palestinians refer to as the “Nakba” or “the Catastrophe.”

Since the border rallies began on March 30, more than 90 Palestinian demonstrators have been killed by cross-border Israeli gunfire, according to the Health Ministry.

Last week, the Israeli government said the ongoing border protests constituted a “state of war” in which international humanitarian law did not apply.