Turkey strongly condemns Israeli attack against UN school

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

Smoke rises following an Israeli strike in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip on August 3, 2014. AFP Photo

Turkey has strongly condemned the Israeli army’s attack on a U.N. school in Gaza that claimed the lives of at least 10 Palestinian civilians.

“We fully share the U.N. secretary-general’s view that this attack constitutes a crime,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a written statement on Aug. 4.

Noting that the attack was not the first against a U.N. school in which innocent Palestinians had taken shelter, the statement described it as horrifying given that the coordinates of all U.N. compounds in Gaza had already been provided to the Israeli side.

“Israel is showing its disregard to all principles and precedents concerning human rights and international law by this and its previous attacks on U.N. premises. The international community should take necessary steps [to make] Israel account for its unprecedented attacks,” read the statement.