Turkey's foreign minister to attend OIC meeting on Palestine

ANKARA

Turkey’s foreign minister will attend the virtual meeting being held by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Sunday to discuss Israel’s attacks on Palestine, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

The meeting at the level of foreign ministers is being held “upon the initiative of Turkey in consultation with the Palestinian authorities and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” the ministry said in a statement.

The Open-Ended Extraordinary Meeting of the OIC Executive Committee will discuss “possible steps to be taken within the OIC and at international fora … against the recent attacks by Israel in the Palestinian territories,” the statement added.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip in air strikes since May 10, killing at least 139 people, including 39 children and 22 women, and injuring 950 more people.

At least four multistory buildings have also been destroyed in the air raids on the besieged Palestinian territory, among them one housing offices of various media groups, including Al Jazeera and the US' Associated Press.

The airstrikes on Gaza were preceded by days of tensions and Israeli aggression in occupied East Jerusalem, where hundreds of Palestinians were assaulted by Israeli forces and settlers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque and in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.