World must take firm stance against Israel’s disregard for Palestinians: Rights group

By Burak Bir

ANKARA (AA) – The international community needs to take a firm stance against Israel’s ongoing and flagrant disregard for Palestinian lives, global rights group Amnesty International said late on Friday.

“Disturbing reports” of Israeli forces having killed at least 10 more Palestinians in the occupied West Bank reflect “previous patterns of excessive force,” the group said on Twitter.

A total of 139 people, including 39 children and 22 women, have been killed and 950 more injured since Israel started attacks on Gaza last Monday.

The air strikes 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.

Tensions spread from occupied East Jerusalem to Gaza after Palestinian resistance groups vowed to retaliate for Israeli assaults.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community.