In a phone call, Cavusoglu told Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Maliki that Turkiye places great importance on preserving the sanctity and status of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem.

The criticism came after the Israeli security cabinet, on Friday, approved a series of sanctions against the Palestinian Authority (PA) in response to the PA's successful initiative at the United Nations (UN) last week to have the UN International Court of Justice draft a legal opinion regarding Israel's conduct in the Palestinian Territories.

Early on Tuesday, the Knesset (Israel's parliament) approved the first reading for a bill to extend the "emergency regulations" for settlers living in settlement blocks in the Occupied Territory.

"We are deeply concerned by the escalating violence in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel over the past month," said Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.