Israeli PM Netanyahu hopes relations with Turkey to be normalized in April
Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, speaks during a press conference in relation to the terror attacks in Brussels on 22 March, at his office in Jerusalem, Israel, 23 March 2016 (EPA Photo)


Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that he hopes relations between Turkey and Israel will be normalized next month, following diplomatic talks.

According to reports, Netanyahu told a press conference in Jerusalem that Turkish and Israeli representatives will meet in April, which he said will mend relations between the two countries, which had been damaged following the Mavi Marmara incident in 2010.

Referring to recent cooperation between the two countries after the terrorist attack in Istanbul last week, Israeli PM said that the cooperation between Israel and Turkey is good.

The diplomatic crisis between Turkey and Israel dates back to a May 2010 incident when Israeli commandos boarded the Mavi Marmara, a civilian vessel carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, in international waters. The Israeli raid on the flotilla resulted in the death of nine civilians, an American and eight Turkish citizens. Following the attack, the Israeli government faced international condemnation while bilateral relations declined to a historic low.

A suicide bomber killed four people and injured 36, seven of them in critical condition, in Istanbul's busy Istiklal street on Saturday.

Simha Siman Demri, Yonathan Suher and Avraham Godman from Israel were killed in the bombing.