Turkey suspended all its trade relations with Israel on Thursday, after having already restricted its exports to this country in April in response to the war in Gaza, the Turkish Ministry of Commerce announced.
“Exports and imports related to Israel were suspended,” the Turkish ministry said in a statement, marking a new stage in the deterioration of relations between the two countries.
“Turkey will apply these new measures (…) until the Israeli government authorizes an uninterrupted flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza,” he added.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz had previously claimed on Thursday that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had “broken the agreements.” [entre Israel y Turquía] by blocking Israeli imports and exports at ports.
The head of Israeli diplomacy said he wanted to “create alternatives to trade with Turkey, focusing on local production and imports from other countries.”
In early April, Turkey restricted exports to Israel of a good number of goods, such as steel, iron or aluminum products, due to the war in Gaza.
The conflict broke out on October 7 when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing 1,170 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping more than 250, according to an AFP report based on Israeli data.
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Israel claims that 129 remain in Gaza, of whom 34 have reportedly died.
In response, Israel promised to “annihilate” Hamas and launched an offensive that has so far left 34,596 dead in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, governed by the Islamist movement.