ANKARA

As the head of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly, the Turkish parliament speaker on Wednesday condemned Israeli atrocities in the occupied territories of Palestine.

"As the Asian Parliamentary Assembly, we hereby condemn, in the strongest sense of the word, Israel’s violent and criminal attacks against innocent Palestinian civilians in occupied Palestine. We deplore the Israeli raids and assaults in which Israeli armed forces are using lethal weapons against defenseless Palestinian civilians, including infants, children, women, and elderly," said Mustafa Sentop in a statement.

Sentop reiterated that Israel has long been committing crimes against humanity in occupied Palestinian territories, especially in the holy sites.

He urged the international community to take resolute and effective action against Israel "without any further delay."

"We also call on the international community to act against the Israeli practices through which the Israeli authorities have unlawfully transformed the holy city of Jerusalem and its neighborhoods into a war zone. It is a moral and lawful obligation of the international community to prevent Israel from committing ethnic cleansing, forcefully displacing Palestinians from their homeland, confiscating the properties of Palestinian people, attacking worshippers, withholding them from reaching the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, the first qibla of the Muslim people, and depriving Palestinian people of practicing their legitimate rights," he said.

"We declare our full support and solidarity with the people of Palestine in the occupied territories. We also stress the pressing need of holding Israel accountable for its human rights violations and crimes against humanity in the occupied Palestinian lands since 1967," he added.

Tensions have run high in East Jerusalem since last week as Israeli settlers have swarmed in after an Israeli court ordered the eviction of Palestinian families.

Israeli forces and settlers have repeatedly assaulted Palestinians who have turned up to express solidarity with the families facing eviction, with many also having been detained.

After Palestinian groups fired rockets in response to Israel’s violence in Jerusalem, Israel started an air offensive on the Gaza Strip on Monday evening.

At least 48 Palestinian civilians have been killed and nearly 300 injured in Israeli air strikes on the besieged Palestinian territory, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.