Turkey breaks off trade relations with Israel

Turkey has severed all trade relations with Israel and closed its airspace to Israeli aircraft in response to the country's actions in Gaza, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Friday.

"We have completely stopped trade with Israel," Fidan said in a parliamentary session on the Gaza situation in Ankara. "We have closed our ports to Israeli ships. We do not allow Turkish ships to call at Israeli ports."

Turkey "does not allow container ships carrying weapons and ammunition to Israel to call at our ports, nor do we allow aircraft to fly into our airspace," Fidan added.

No other country has completely severed its trade relations with Israel.

The measures are part of a comprehensive package of diplomatic, legal, and economic measures that Ankara has introduced because of the Gaza conflict, Fidan added.

Turkey has repeatedly described the war in the Gaza Strip as a "genocide."

The Gaza war was triggered by the attack on Israel led by the Palestinian militant organization Hamas on October 7, 2023, which killed around 1,200 people and saw more than 250 taken hostage to Gaza.

More than 62,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, according to figures from the Hamas-run Health Ministry that are seen as largely credible.

Turkey has previously announced that it would restrict trade with Israel and stated that no trade had taken place since May 2024.

According to the Turkish Statistical Institute, Turkey's trade with Israel amounted to $7 billion in 2023.