Turkey suspended trade with Israel over humanitarian crisis in Gaza

The Trade Ministry of Turkey suspended trade with Israel due to the ongoing Israeli invasion of Gaza and the humanitarian crisis. Hence, Turkey has stopped importing and exporting goods to and from Israel.

The ministry stated all products have been subject to a suspension of export and import transactions associated with Israel. Turkey will enforce these new measures with strong determination until the Israeli government allows a continuous and sufficient way of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

However, this announcement of the Turkish ministry came after Israel’s foreign minister passed a statement. The minister claimed that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was breaching agreements by preventing ports from processing Israeli exports and imports.

Israel Katz is the foreign minister for the Israeli state. He wrote on Twitter X that this is how a dictator behaves (referring to Tayyip Erdogan), ignoring international trade agreements and the interests of the Turkish people and business.

Minister Israel Katz stated he gave the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the task of developing substitutes for commerce with Turkey. He emphasized domestic manufacturing and imports from other nations.

.@RTErdogan is breaking agreements by blocking ports for Israeli imports and exports. This is how a dictator behaves, disregarding the interests of the Turkish people and businessmen, and ignoring international trade agreements. I have instructed the Director General of the…
— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) May 2, 2024

Click here to read the updates on multiple explosions in Iran as Israel launched drones toward it

However, Turkey claimed it suspended trade with Israel due to its unwillingness to allow Turkey to participate in relief airdrops for Gaza and Israel’s war on the land of Palestine.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated last month that Turkey no longer engaged in intense trade with Israel. He expressed it when he was asked about the ongoing trade with Israel. However, he did not hint at stopping trade business with Israel then.

The trade between Turkey and Israel was worth $6.8bn in 2023. Apart from Turkey, at least eight countries have recalled their ambassadors from Israel following ongoing violent Israeli strikes in Gaza. Columbia, Jordan, Bahrain, Honduras, Chile, Belize, South Africa, and Chad are among them.

According to recent media reports, about 34500 Palestinians have died. The majority of them are women and children. Serious famine and disastrous human crises have been initiated in Gaza since the October 7 Israel-Hamas conflict.