Turkey starts trade war with Israel over Gaza aid refusal, increasing tension between two nations

FM Katz promises to retaliate, restricting Turkish imports to Israel

Read this article in:

The Turkish government announced on Tuesday that it would impose trade restrictions on Israel in response to Israel’s denial of the Turkish request to join air drops of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

On Monday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan announced that his country would unveil its response to Israel’s denial over the humanitarian aid drops, but did not specify what the response would entail.

“There can be no excuse for Israel's prevention of airdropping aid to starving Gaza,” Fidan said at the time. “In response to this, we have decided to take a series of new measures against Israel.”

Fidan also said the measures would continue until “Israel declares a cease-fire and allows humanitarian aid to reach Gaza uninterrupted.”

On Tuesday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry announced export restrictions for 54 products, including construction materials, such as cement, steel, and iron, as well as jet fuel.

In response to the announcement of the trade restriction, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz ordered the Economic Division of the Foreign Ministry “to prepare an extensive list of products that Israel will prevent Turkey from exporting to Israel.”

“Turkey is unilaterally violating the trade agreements with Israel, and Israel will take all necessary measures against it,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The statement went on to say that Israel would ask “its friends in the American Congress to examine Turkish violation of the boycott laws against Israel and impose sanctions accordingly.”

Amid increasingly hostile statements by Turkish President Recep Erdoğan over the past few years, Turkish imports to Israel have declined.

Erdoğan has maintained friendly relations with Hamas’ leadership over the years and refused to declare the group a terror organization.

Erdoğan's ruling Islamic party suffered several setbacks during municipal elections in the nation last month, and he has faced pressure from elements within the country to halt trade with Israel.

After the outbreak of the war in Gaza, imports declined another 28% before beginning to recover, according to Bloomberg.

Turkey is the fifth-largest importer to Israel, meaning a trade war between the two nations would have a significant impact on both.

Katz accused Turkey of harming its citizens through its support of Hamas.

“Erdoğan is once again sacrificing the economic interests of the people of Turkey for his support of Hamas,” Katz said.