Turkey bans trade with Israel due to war in Gaza ʹ comes Tel Aviv reaction

Turkey reportedly has banned all trade with Israel for its actions in Gaza.

With this, according to foreign media reports, Telegraphy reports, Turkey has prompted strong criticism of its president, Recep Tayip Erdogan, from the Israeli foreign minister.

Israel Katz accused Erdogan of behaving like a “dictator” after Bloomberg quoted two senior Turkish officials as saying Ankara had significantly stepped up restrictions originally imposed last month, halting all imports or exports since Thursday.

Turkey has not officially announced the suspension, and it remains unclear what are the necessary conditions for relaunching trade.

As you appreciate The GuardianThe dispute will probably deepen tensions between the two former close allies, which have deteriorated since the start of the Gaza crisis.

Hamas militants killed about 1,136 Israeli citizens on October 7th and took away about 250 people, and since then Israel has sent soldiers to Gaza and bombed the territory, killing more than 34,000 people, according to the Hamas-led health ministry.

Turkey's Trade Ministry first announced restrictions on exports to Israel in early April, halting the export of iron and steel products and construction equipment.

Both countries had a commercial volume of $6.8 billion in 2023.

Katz said Erdogan “was obstructing agreements by blocking ports for Israeli imports and exports”.

He said: “So acts a dictator, ignoring the interests of Turkish people and businessmen and ignoring international trade agreements”.

Katz added that Israel would try to replace any lost product through domestic production and imports from other countries.

Last month Katz criticised Erdogan for his decision to publish his recent meeting in Istanbul with the head of the Hamas Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh.