Erdoğan demands no NATO cooperation with Israel until end of Gaza war

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said that he will not approve any future cooperation between the NATO military alliance and Israel while the war in Gaza is continuing.

Turkey, a NATO member since 1952, will not accept this kind of cooperation "until a comprehensive and sustainable peace is established in the Palestinian Territories," Erdoğan wrote on X on Friday following the NATO summit in Washington.

"It is impossible for the Israeli government, which tramples on the fundamental values of our alliance, to continue its partnership with NATO," Erdoğan wrote.

Israel is not a member of the defence alliance, but closely cooperates with NATO as a partner.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz reacted harshly to Erdoğan's statements.

"First of all, Erdoğan, you decide nothing," the minister wrote on X. "Furthermore, a country like Turkey, which supports the murderers and rapists of Hamas and the Iranian axis of evil, should not be a member of NATO.

NATO's website states that NATO and Israel have been working together for almost 30 years in areas such as science, technology, counter-terrorism, civil defence, combating weapons of mass destruction and other issues.

Israeli soldiers are also regularly involved in NATO military exercises.

Since the beginning of the war in Gaza in October, relations between Israel and Turkey have deteriorated drastically.

Erdoğan has described the Palestinian Islamist Hamas group as a "liberation organization" and has compared Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler.