Israeli police attack worshippers at al-Aqsa mosque, one of the holiest sites in Islam, during Ramadan. (Credit: Ammar Awad/Reuters)
Turkey on Wednesday denounced the Wednesday morning Israeli assault at Al-Aqsa mosque as "unacceptable," saying the violence violates its "sacred" character.
Israeli police attacked worshippers at Jerusalem's holy site on Wednesday, sparking an exchange of rockets and air strikes, in flaring violence as the Jewish Passover overlaps with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
"We condemn these attacks," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on the margins of a NATO gathering in Brussels.
"Normalization with Israel has begun, but our commitment cannot be at the expense of the Palestinian cause and our principles," he added, noting that "these attacks have exceeded the limit."
Armed Israeli police in riot gear stormed the mosque's prayer hall before dawn, with the goal of dislodging what they described as "law-breaking youths and masked agitators" who had barricaded themselves inside following evening prayers.
The Al-Aqsa mosque compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, is a site sacred to both Islam and Judaism in the Old City of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.
Israeli police attacked worshippers at Jerusalem's holy site on Wednesday, sparking an exchange of rockets and air strikes, in flaring violence as the Jewish Passover overlaps with the Muslim...