(JNS) Libyan Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush was suspended from her post late Sunday night amid outrage over her meeting last week with her Israeli counterpart Eli Cohen.

The country has seen mass protests over the meeting and it's believe Mangoush has left Libya for Turkey amid a public outcry.

Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid al-Dbeibeh issued a statement calling the meeting in Rome "accidental, unofficial and not planned in advance.

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Libyan Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush, 2022. (Credit: Libyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

“[Libya] categorically denies the exploitation by the Hebrew and international press and their attempt to confer upon the incident the character of meetings,” said the statement, which stressed Tripoli's “complete and absolute rejection of normalization with the Zionist entity” and affirmed its “full commitment to the issues of the Arab and Islamic nations, foremost of which is the Palestinian cause.”

The development comes hours after Israeli officials revealed that Cohen and Mangoush had met to discuss the possibility of normalizing ties.

During the first-ever meeting between representatives of the two countries, Cohen offered humanitarian help to the conflict-wrecked North African nation and discussed efforts to preserve the heritage of Libyan Jewry.

Israeli officials established contact with Libya’s unity government several months ago.

A Libyan government official told the Associated Press that the possibility of Libya joining the Abraham Accords was first discussed in January in a meeting in Tripoli between al-Dbeibeh and CIA Director William Burns.

The source told AP that the Libyan premier initially gave approval to Burns's normalization proposal but withdrew from his position due to fears of a public backlash in the country that historically supported the Palestinian cause.

“The historic meeting with the Libyan foreign minister, Najla Mangoush, is the first step in the relationship between Israel and Libya,” Cohen said in a statement, explaining that “given Libya’s size and strategic location, relations are of great importance and have huge potential for the State of Israel."

Torn by a bloody civil war since a NATO-supported rebellion removed dictator Muammar Gaddafi from power in 2011, Libya has been divided between rival governments for more than a decade.