Turkey could restart Israel trade if Gaza peace proves permanent, business group says
Turkish Foreign Economic Relations Board says Ankara may end ban it started last year when demanding greater humanitarian aid supplies during war against Hamas
Turkey could restart trade with Israel “if peace is permanent,” Nail Olpak, head of the Turkish Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK), said on Tuesday.
Turkey severed trade with Israel last year over its war in Gaza that started on October 7, 2023, when Hamas led a devastating attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians. This week Israel and the terror group began implementing a complex ceasefire deal.
When Turkey first applied the trade ban it said the measure would remain in force until Israel “allows an uninterrupted and sufficient flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza.”
Israel’s foreign minister at the time, Israel Katz, panned Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, saying, “This is how a dictator behaves, disregarding the interests of the Turkish people and businessmen, and ignoring international trade agreements.”
Israel and Turkey have had free trade agreements since the mid-1990s. The two countries had a trade volume of $6.8 billion in 2023.
On Sunday, the first day of the ceasefire, more than 630 humanitarian aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council.

During the war, Israel said that looting by Hamas and poor coordination by international aid agencies had prevented hundreds of trucks from delivering aid to Gazans.
On Tuesday, the UN said there had been no reports of aid convoys being looted in Gaza since the ceasefire agreement came into effect.
Turkey has been one of the harshest critics of Israel during the war against Hamas, with Erdogan branding Israel a “terrorist state.”
Erdogan’s salvos against Israel included allegations it is committing “genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza. He has also defended Hamas — considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States, and the European Union — as “a liberation group.”
Turkey and Israel normalized ties in 2022 by reappointing ambassadors after years of tensions, but relations again became strained due to the war.