Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has praised Israeli troops for killing at least 17 Palestinians during Friday's Land Day rallies, amid widespread global condemnation of the Tel Aviv regime's aggression against the Palestinian people.

Netanyahu praised the troops via his official twitter account late on Saturday for their actions which he claimed were aimed at guarding Israel.

The message was posted after Israeli soldiers wounded about 70 Palestinians during protests earlier in the day along the Gaza border with the occupied Palestinian territories.

On Friday, at least 17 Palestinians lost their lives and more than 1,400 others sustained injuries when Israeli military forces opened fire on thousands of protesters who had flocked to a sit-in near the Gaza border.

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Turkey condemns Israel's 'inhuman attack'

On Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan "strongly condemned Israel for its inhumane attack" against the Palestinian people.

"Have you heard any noteworthy objections to the massacre by Israel that happened yesterday in Gaza from those who criticize the Afrin operation?," he added.

Turkey began the so-called Operation Olive Branch in Afrin on January 20 to clear the northern Syrian border of the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a US-backed Kurdish militant group which Ankara associates with the homegrown Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighting for autonomy on Turkish soil.

"This is the biggest proof of insincerity of those who fixate on us but say nothing about Israel using heavy weapons to attack people who are protesting on their own lands," he added.