Turkey has declared three-day mourning for Palestinian victims killed in Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip as the death toll jumped to more than 500 on Monday, Today's Zaman reported.
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç told a news briefing after a bi-weekly cabinet meeting on Monday that the mourning, which is aimed to support Gaza's resistance against Israel, will start from July 22.
Despite growing calls for a halt to two weeks of fighting, violence raged on. Israeli jets, tanks and artillery constantly pounded the densely-populated coastal strip, killing 28 members of a single family at the southern end on Monday. Hamas unleashed regular volleys of rockets at Israeli cities, many of them intercepted.
Arınç, who is also the government spokesman, said Ankara "curses the massacre" and ruthless mass punishment of Israel against the Palestinian people.