ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Saturday strongly condemned the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli occupation authorities and called upon the international community to take “urgent action” to quash “Israeli transgressions”, a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced.

“Pakistan strongly condemns the storming of the Al Aqsa Mosque by a member of the Israeli occupation authority and members of the Knesset under the protection of Israeli occupation forces,” the statement read. On Thursday, tens of thousands of Israeli nationalists marched to Jerusalem’s Old City in an annual flag-waving march commemorating Israel’s capture of it, as tensions on the Gaza border ran high.

The FO’s statement further added that the march was “yet another reprehensible event” that violated the sanctity of one of the holiest sites in Islam.

It referred to the incident as another event in a “series of escalatory Israeli actions disrespectful to religious sentiments of over 1.5 billion Muslims around the world”.

The FO, in its statement, said: “We reiterate that such acts are inconsistent with the right to freedom of expression and religion or belief of the Palestinian people, defying all humanitarian and human rights laws and norms.”

The FO further urged the international community to take urgent action to “end Israeli transgressions” in the occupied territories, adding that these transgressions had been conspicuously ascendant since the beginning of this year.