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The Latest: Israel tells Turkey its criticism is ‘absurd’

Palestinians women pray at the Lion's Gate following an appeal from clerics to pray in the streets instead of inside the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, in Jerusalem's Old City, Tuesday, July 25, 2017. Dozens of Muslims have prayed in the street outside a major Jerusalem shrine, heeding a call by clerics not to enter the site until a dispute with Israel over security arrangements is settled. This comes after Israel removed metal detectors earlier on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
Palestinians women pray at the Lion's Gate following an appeal from clerics to pray in the streets instead of inside the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, in Jerusalem's Old City, Tuesday, July 25, 2017. Dozens of Muslims have prayed in the street outside a major Jerusalem shrine, heeding a call by clerics not to enter the site until a dispute with Israel over security arrangements is settled. This comes after Israel removed metal detectors earlier on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

By Associated Press 4 min read

JERUSALEM (AP) – The Latest on the escalation in Israel and the Palestinian territories over a contested Jerusalem holy site (all times local):

5:20 p.m.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry has issued a scathing response to Turkey’s criticism of its security measures at a contested Jerusalem holy site.

The statement is the latest in an intensifying war of words between the two former allies.

Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon says that “it’s absurd that the Turkish government, which occupies Northern Cyprus, brutally represses the Kurdish minority and jails journalists, lectures Israel, the only true democracy in the region.”