Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had given the go-ahead to send aid to earthquake-hit Syria, but a Damascus official swiftly denied they had requested help in the first place.
Israel "received a request from a diplomatic source for humanitarian aid to Syria, and I approved it," Netanyahu told lawmakers from his hawkish Likud party, adding the aid would be sent soon.
But a Syrian official told reporters Damascus "ridiculed and denied the allegations" that it had requested aid from Israel.
"How can Syria ask for help from an entity that has killed... Syrians for decades?" said the official.
Syria's government does not recognize Israel and the two countries have fought several wars since Israel's creation in 1948.
Netanyahu's office declined to provide further details on the source of the request to help Syria, where hundreds of people were killed by a 7.7 magnitude earthquake Monday in neighboring Türkiye.
The Israeli leader has also confirmed his government would send humanitarian assistance to Türkiye following the disaster.
Israel's Foreign Ministry said a team of search and rescue specialists would leave for Türkiye on Monday, and that another delegation equipped with humanitarian supplies would follow on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, some 300 Russian military personnel are helping clear debris in Syria, Moscow said Monday.
Russia has also promised help to both countries. In the coming hours, rescue workers from the Russian civil defense force are to be flown to Syria, the Kremlin announced on Monday afternoon.
President Vladimir Putin has already spoken on the phone with his Syrian regime leader Bashar Assad.
In Türkiye, more than 1,500 people have been reported dead, according to authorities.
Some 461 people were killed in Syrian government-held areas, Assistant Health Minister Ahmed Dhamiriyeh told the state news agency SANA. More than 1,300 were wounded, he said.
In the north-western areas held by the opposition, 390 people died and more than 1,000 were injured, according to Raed al-Saleh, the head of the White Helmets, a team of some 3,000 volunteers providing aid to opposition-held areas. Hundreds remain trapped under rubble, he added.
Türkiye’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said that there had been at least 42 aftershocks.
