By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
ANKARA/JERUSALEM (Worthy News) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Wednesday that Turkey has cut its ties with the State of Israel, marking a sharp escalation in diplomatic tensions between the two nations.
“We have cut trade and ties with Israel, period,” Erdoğan said in remarks to Turkish media.
However, Israeli officials in Jerusalem said they were unaware of the diplomatic status change.
While Turkey recalled its ambassador from Israel “in protest of the Gaza War,” the Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv is still operating, Israeli sources said.
Erdoğan spoke to reporters aboard his plane following recent visits to Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan.
The Turkey’s leader stressed his condemnation of what he called “genocide” by Israel in Gaza and Lebanon.
ISRAEL DENIES
Israel’s government has vehemently denied committing atrocities, saying it is fighting Iran’s proxies, such as Hamas, after the group killed some 1,200 people in southern Israel on October 7 last year.
However, Erdoğan said there was “an urgent need” for humanitarian aid and an immediate ceasefire. “As you know, intense efforts are being made to keep the pressure on Israel alive and to take coercive measures against this country based on international law,” he added.
The Turkish president has been among Israel’s harshest critics before and after last year’s Hamas massacre, described as “the worst atrocity against Jews since the Holocaust,” or Shoah.
He refused to condemn the Hamas atrocities against Israeli civilians and instead lashed out at Israel for its war against Hamas in Gaza.
In March, Erdoğan emphasized Turkey’s strong ties with Hamas, which he refuses to recognize as a “terrorist organization.”
“Turkey is a country that speaks openly with Hamas leaders and firmly backs them. No one can make us qualify Hamas as a terrorist organization,” he said
HITLER COMPARISON
The Turkish president has also compared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with Nazi leader Adolf Hitler who ordered the murder of six million Jews.
“Netanyahu and his administration, with their crimes against humanity in Gaza, are writing their names next to Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin, like today’s Nazis,” Erdoğan claimed.
In May, the Turkish leader escalated his rhetoric by calling Netanyahu a “vampire” and said the State of Israel was a threat to “all of humanity.”
He also announced that Turkey would halt all commercial trade with the Jewish state. Former Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz strongly condemned Erdoğan, accusing him of undermining both Israeli and Turkish traders.
“Erdoğan crossed a line and blocked ports for Israeli exports and imports,” Katz complained.
“This is how a dictator behaves – trampling on the interests of the Turkish people and businessmen and ignoring international trade agreements,” he argued.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
More Worthy News
Egyptian archaeologists say new discoveries in northeastern Egypt may help identify a long-lost ancient city that stood along one of the most important military roads of the ancient world — a route many scholars have connected to the biblical account of the Exodus.
Israel’s High Court of Justice has unanimously overturned the government’s decision to close the influential Army Radio after 75 years, ruling that ministers acted at least partly on “improper and invalid” political considerations because they objected to the station’s broadcasts.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Jared Kushner that Israel remains firmly opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state, making the position “very clear” during a meeting this week with the Trump adviser, according to a senior Israeli official cited by JNS.
Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf expressed his sorrow Friday after authorities confirmed that a teenager armed with a sword attacked students at a Swedish high school, killing one person and injuring three.
Ukraine is appealing for expanded access to Western satellite technology to help locate and destroy Russian missile launchers and other military targets as relentless Russian drone and missile attacks have killed dozens of civilians within two days, exposing growing shortages in Kyiv’s air defenses.
Millions of Ukrainian men are believed to be attempting to avoid mobilization for the frontline, but many are being hunted down and sometimes harshly detained by authorities as part of a massive drive to reinforce the country’s depleted armed forces.
Hungary’s new president, András Baka, has urged the country’s relaunched public broadcaster to regain the trust of millions of Hungarians after years in which he said it spread falsehoods, as political tensions continued over the dismantling of former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s system.