Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday termed the use of force by Israel on Palestine a violation of human rights, reports UNB.

She also condemned the relocation of the US Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.

The PM said this when Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım phoned her in the evening to invite her to attend a special summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on the Palestine issue on May 18.

Yıldırım called Hasina at 7:30pm and they talked for over 15 minutes, said the PM's press secretary Ihsanul Karim.

He said the Turkish PM informed his Bangladeshi counterpart that the OIC has called a special summit on the recent Palestinian issue on May 18.

Praising the initiative as a timely one, Hasina urged the Muslim Ummah to remain united.

She also reiterated Bangladesh's stance for an independent Palestine state.

DHAKA SLAMS USE OF FORCE

Bangladesh has strongly condemned the use of force by the Israeli authorities against the Palestinians which has left scores of Palestine civilians dead and several thousand injured, our diplomatic correspondent reports. 

“While expressing deep condolences and sympathies to the Palestinians, we call on the international community to put pressure on Israel to stop the atrocities immediately,” said a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry yesterday.

Bangladesh also expressed its dismay at the United States' move of shifting its embassy to Jerusalem. Bangladesh stressed on preserving the legal status of Jerusalem within the framework of relevant UN resolutions, it said.

Bangladesh reaffirms its position in favour of establishing the State of Palestine on the basis of the two-state solution and on the pre- 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.