Turkish PM invites counterparts to OIC summit on Gaza

By Baris Gundogan

ANKARA (AA) - Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Tuesday invited his counterparts from five countries to join emergency summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on killings of Palestinians at Gaza border.

Sources from the Turkish Prime Ministry confirmed that Yildirim had phone conversations with Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina Wazed, Morocco’s Saadeddine Othmani, Pakistan’s Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Qatar's Abdullah bin Nasır es-Sani and Algeria's Ahmed Ouyahia over Israeli violence.

Yildirim invited his counterparts to join an emergency summit of the OIC to be held in Istanbul on May 18.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, at least 61 Palestinian demonstrators have been martyred by cross-border Israeli gunfire in one of the deadliest single-day massacres in the country's history.

Thousands of Palestinians have gathered on Gaza Strip’s eastern border since Monday morning to take part in protests aimed to commemorate the Nakba anniversary and protest relocating of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Since the border rallies began on March 30, more than 100 Palestinian demonstrators have been killed by cross-border Israeli gunfire, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The rallies will culminate on Tuesday, the 70th anniversary of Israel's establishment -- an event Palestinians refer to as the "Nakba" or "the Catastrophe".