ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan government has decided to observe Palestine Solidarity Day on May 21, Friday, to support the “oppressed people” of Palestine, the prime minister’s adviser on religious harmony, Hafiz Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi, said on Tuesday night.

In the worst violence in the region in years, Gaza medical officials say 217 Palestinians have been killed, including 63 children, and more than 1,400 wounded since the fighting began on May 10. Israeli authorities say 12 people have been killed in Israel, including two children.

Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa Mosque is Islam’s third holiest site where Palestinian worshippers were targeted by the Israeli forces during the last week of Ramadan, resulting in a fresh bout of violence in the region

Ashrafi said on the instructions of Prime Minister Imran Khan, Friday would be observed in solidarity with Palestinians, with religious clerics endorsing the Palestinian cause and condemning “Israeli atrocities” during their Friday sermons.

Ashrafi said the nation would call upon world leaders to play their part in “ending the persecution of Palestinians on a permanent basis so that an independent Palestinian state can be established with Al-Quds as its capital.”

He said Muslims could not compromise on the sanctity of the two holy mosques in Saudi Arabia along with the Al Aqsa Mosque, adding that the three places constituted a “red line” for the Muslim Ummah.

Ashrafi said Prime Minister Khan had instructed the Pakistan Red Crescent to provide medicines to Palestinians and make all possible efforts to assist them.

“The blood is being shed mercilessly of minors and elders in Palestine,” he said, adding that the government of Pakistan would leave “no stone unturned to keep facilitating Palestinians.”

Pakistan’s political and religious parties along with civil society activists and organizations have held rallies across the country this week to condemn Israeli attacks against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip during the last one week.

According to a statement by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, about 450 buildings in the area have been destroyed or badly damaged, including six hospitals and nine primary health care centers, and about 52,000 Palestinians have been displaced by Israeli airstrikes.