Since October, Ankara has thwarted all collaboration with Israel, which holds partner status in military alliance, sources say, adding Turkey will maintain stance until war ends
ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey has blocked cooperation between NATO and Israel since October because of its war against the Hamas terror group in Gaza and said the alliance should not engage with Israel as a partner until there is an end to the conflict, sources familiar with the process said.
Israel carries the status of NATO partner and has fostered close relations with the military alliance and some of its members, notably its biggest ally the United States.
Before Israel’s offensive in Gaza — prompted by Hamas’s thousands-strong October 7 rampage through southern Israel that left 1,200 people dead and saw 251 kidnapped — NATO member Turkey had been working to mend its long-strained ties with Israel.
Since then, Ankara has been fiercely critical of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, which it claims amounts to a genocide, and has halted all bilateral trade. It has also slammed many Western allies for their support of Israel.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the sources said Turkey had vetoed all NATO engagement with Israel since October, including joint meetings and exercises, saying it viewed Israel’s “massacre” of Palestinians in Gaza as a violation of NATO’s founding principles.
The operation has claimed the lives of over 39,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry. The toll, which cannot be independently verified, does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel says it has killed some 15,000 fighters in Gaza, in addition to about 1,000 inside Israel on October 7, and takes steps to avoid harm to civilians.
The sources said Turkey would maintain the block on Israel and not allow it to continue or advance its interaction with NATO until there was an end to the conflict, as it believes Israel’s actions in Gaza violate international law and universal human rights.
After a NATO summit in Washington in July, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said it was not possible for NATO to continue its partnership with the Israeli administration.
Earlier this week, Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz urged the alliance to expel Turkey after Erdogan appeared to threaten to intervene militarily in Israel, as it had in Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh in the past.
timesofisrael.com