Israeli forces killed 55 Palestinians on the Gaza border in the conflict's bloodiest day in years on Monday as clashes and protests coincided with the deeply controversial opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem.
World leaders reacted to the news, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accusing Israel of committing "state terror" and "genocide".
"Israel is wreaking state terror. Israel is a terror state," Erdogan told Turkish students in London in a speech broadcast by state television. "What Israel has done is a genocide. I condemn this humanitarian drama, the genocide, from whichever side it comes, Israel or America," he added.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag told reporters in Ankara that Turkey was recalling its ambassadors to the United States and Israel "for consultations" after the bloodshed.
The surge in fatalities led South Africa to recall its ambassador in Israel "with immediate effect until further notice" while condemning the deaths "in the strongest terms possible".
Thousands wounded
The clashes, which left more than 2,400 Palestinians wounded, erupted before a White House delegation and Israeli officials opened the embassy at an inauguration ceremony in Jerusalem and continued throughout the day.
It was the bloodiest day in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since a 2014 Gaza war.
The dead included eight children under the age of 16, according to the Palestinian envoy to the United Nations. The Gazan health ministry provided the overall death and injury toll.
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