Türkiye on Friday responded to Israel for summoning its deputy envoy for a reprimand after the Turkish Embassy in Tel Aviv lowered its flag to half-mast in response to the assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh.
“The State of Israel will not tolerate expressions of mourning for a murderer like Ismail Haniyeh," Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a statement after summoning the Turkish envoy.
In a response on X, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Öncü Keçeli said: “You cannot achieve peace by killing negotiators and threatening diplomats.”
Haniyeh was killed in Tehran while there to attend the inauguration of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Israel has not made any official claim of responsibility for his death, but Iran and its allies, including Hamas and Hezbollah, have accused Israel of the assassination and vowed revenge.
President Tayyip Erdoğan declared Friday, Aug. 2, a day of national mourning for Haniyeh.
Katz's statement said Haniyeh had been Hamas leader during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that killed some 1,200 Israelis and foreigners and saw more than 250 taken hostage in Gaza, triggering Israel's assault on the coastal enclave, which has killed nearly 40,000 Palestinians in ten months of relentless bombing, mostly women and children.
Tensions between Israel and Türkiye have risen sharply since the start of the war in Gaza as Ankara has cut off commercial ties with Tel Aviv, with Erdoğan repeatedly trading barbs with Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu.
Ankara considers Hamas a liberation movement, unlike the majority of the Western world, and hosted Haniyeh in Türkiye several times to discuss cease-fire efforts and the humanitarian aid crisis in the blockaded enclave.
