ANKARA 2 Apr (ANA) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have clashed over deadly violence on the Gaza border.

 

Sixteen Palestinians were killed on Friday after Israeli soldiers opened fire on demonstrators.

 

President Erdogan accused Mr Netanyahu of being "a terrorist" on Sunday.

 

It came after Mr Netanyahu rejected Ankara's "moral lessons" and accused Turkey of indiscriminately bombing civilians in its actions abroad.

 

"The most moral army in the world will not be lectured to on morality from someone who for years has been bombing civilians indiscriminately," the Israeli leader said on Twitter.

 

"Apparently this is how they mark April 1 in Ankara," he added, in reference to April's Fools Day.

 

He has previously called Mr Erdogan someone who "bombs Kurdish villagers" in a reference to Turkey's military operations in the Afrin area of Syria.

 

Mr Erdogan had earlier labelled the Israeli response on Friday an "inhumane attack".

 

"Hey Netanyahu! You are occupier. And it is as an occupier that you are on those lands. At the same time, you are a terrorist," Mr Erdogan said in a televised address on Sunday.

 

The escalating war of words comes amid growing international criticism of the Israeli military response.(ANA)

FA/ANA/2 April 2018------