Due to the Israeli offensive in Gaza, Turkey has now taken the unprecedented step of halting all trade with Israel, citing the “worsening humanitarian tragedy” in the strip as the reason.
These measures would remain in effect until Israel permits a “uninterrupted and sufficient flow” of aid into Gaza, according to the Turkish Ministry of Trade.
The value of trade between the two nations was nearly $7 billion (£5.6 billion) in the previous year.
Foreign minister of Israel Recep Tayyip Erdogan was accused of behaving as a “dictator” by Erdogan.
Furthermore, he stated that he had directed the foreign ministry to identify trade alternatives with Turkey, emphasizing foreign commodities and domestic production.
Additionally, the ministry declares that measures will be implemented to sever economic ties between Turkey and the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Authority.
The humanitarian situation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah and Israel’s “uncompromising attitude” toward an armistice were both criticized by Turkish Trade Minister Omer Bolat.
Turkey became the initial Muslim-majority nation to acknowledge Israel in 1949. In contrast, relations have deteriorated over the past few decades.
Ten pro-Palestinian Turkish activists were slain in clashes with Israeli commandos aboard a Turkish-owned ship in 2010 while attempting to breach Israel’s maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip.
As a result, Turkey severed diplomatic relations with Israel in 2010.
Two years after relations were restored, each nation expelled the other’s highest-ranking diplomats in a dispute over Israel’s killing of Palestinians during demonstrations along the Gaza-Israel border.
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