Israel ‘disturbed’ as they couldn’t split Syria - Turkish FM

Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday that the Israeli premier "lately seemed disturbed because he knows he couldn't divide Syria."

Speaking at a news conference alongside his Tunisian counterpart Khemaies Jhinaoui, Mevlut Cavusoglu said Benjamin Netanyahu had sympathy for the PKK terrorist group as "he was planning to divide Syria using PKK/YPG."

"When his plan collapsed, he seemed disturbed ... The common feature of the PKK and Netanyahu is that they are both baby killers," said Cavusoglu.

On Sunday, Netanyahu criticised the Turkish president over Turkey's counter-terror operations and Cyprus issues on Twitter.

Netanyahu's remarks came after the US President Donald Trump decided to pull troops from Syria following his phone call with President Erdogan. 

Erdogan also on Sunday immediately responded to Netanyahu’s statements. 

"Israel has no right to accuse anyone without accounting for its own sins, crimes against humanity, massacres, and destruction,” said Erdogan in a speech in Istanbul.

“You [Benjamin Netanyahu] are the voice of oppressors. You are conducting state terror," he said, referring to Israel’s years of blockage and attacks that killed several hundreds of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories (B'Tselem) documented at least 3, 316 Palestinian deaths, most of whom civilians including 775 children and 334 women, in the major attacks since Netanyahu took the office in 2009.

In July of 2014, Israeli forces started a devastating operation on Gaza.

The operation lasted almost two months, leaving at least 2,160 Palestinians dead, mostly civilians including dozens of children. It also left some 11,000 people injured, according to figures released by the United Nations and Palestinian officials.

At least 73 Israelis, 68 soldiers, and five civilians were also killed during the seven-week conflict.

Right to return protests

Palestinians have been staging mass protests in Gaza to demand the right to return to their homes and villages in historical Palestine, from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel.

They also demand an end to Israel's 12-year blockade of the Gaza, which has destroyed the coastal enclave's economy and deprived its roughly two million inhabitants of many basic commodities.

Since the rallies began on March 30, more than 240 Palestinians have been killed –– and more than 25,000 wounded –– by Israeli troops deployed near Gaza-Israel fence.