Thousands of Turks staged a demonstration in Turkey's biggest city of Istanbul on Friday to protest Israel's ongoing offensive in the Gaza Strip, the semi- official Anatolia news agency reported.

Chanting anti-Israel slogans and holding banners that read "Israel burns down Palestine" and "Israel commits crimes against humanity", the demonstrators gathered in Istanbul's Beyazit Square to protest against Israel and show support for the Palestinians, according to the report.

Protestors also prayed for the Palestinians who were killed by the Israeli operation and burned Israeli and U.S. flags.

Humanitarian Aid Foundation Chairman Bulent Yildirim attended the massive demonstration and condemned the Israeli military move.

Yildirim was quoted by Anatolia as saying that the Hamas-led Palestinian government was legitimate, urging the international community to lift the embargo imposed on the Palestinians.

The broad Israeli ground operation dubbed "Summer Rain" in the Gaza Strip entered its third day on Friday, a move aimed to free an Israeli soldier abducted by Palestinian militants in a cross- border attack on Sunday.

Israeli troops carried out a large-scale arrest campaign in the West Bank on early Thursday and arrested eight Hamas government ministers and dozens of Hamas lawmakers in order to pressure the Palestinian government over the release of the abducted soldier.

In an effort to ease the tensions in the region, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made telephone conversations with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haneya of Hamas on Friday, Anatolia reported.

Erdogan expressed concerns about the tensions in the Gaza Strip, saying that he was ready to assist the parties to find a solution to the problem with common sense, it added.

Turkey, a long-time North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member, has friendly relations with both the Palestinians and Israel.

The country invited a delegation led by Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal to visit its capital Ankara in February following Hamas' sweeping election victory in January, sparking strong criticism from Israel.

Defending the government's decision on the Hamas visit, Erdogan said that Turkey's aim was to urge Hamas to abandon violence.

Hamas, or the Islamic Resistance Movement, is sworn to Israel's destruct and has taken control of the Palestinian government since late March.

The group's armed wing took part in the deadly Sunday attack on the Israeli army post near the Gaza border.

But the Hamas-led government said that it did not order the abduction and had no foreknowledge of the attack.

Source: Xinhua