Gaza war: Turkey bars Israeli ships from its ports, restricts airspace

Turkey would bar Israeli vessels from using its ports, forbid Turkish ships from using Israeli ports and impose restrictions on some planes entering Turkish airspace, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Friday.

He provided few details in comments to parliament that appeared to summarise steps that Turkey had already taken against Israel over the war in Gaza or had started to implement.

Turkey has fiercely criticised Israel’s offensive in Gaza and accuses it of committing genocide in the Palestinian enclave, a charge that Israel denies. Ankara has halted all trade with Israel, called for international measures against it and urged world powers to stop supporting Israel.

Sources said last week that Turkish port authorities had also started informally requiring shipping agents to provide letters declaring that vessels are not linked to Israel and not carrying military or hazardous cargo bound for the country.

A source had also said that Turkish-flagged ships would be prohibited from calling at Israeli ports.

“We have totally cut our trade with Israel, we have closed off our ports to Israeli ships and we are not allowing Turkish vessels to go to Israel’s ports,” Fidan told an extraordinary parliamentary session on Israel’s attacks on Gaza.