Turkey and
Israel expelled each other’s ambassadors on Tuesday over the killing by Israeli forces of more than 60
Palestinians in
Gaza and amid the escalated tensions over the
US embassy’s transfer to
Jerusalem.
The Turkish foreign minister reportedly advised the Israeli envoy Eitan Naeh to leave the country for “an undetermined period of time”.
The immediate response was the Israeli Foreign Minister Netanuahu ordering the Turkish consul in Jerusalem, Husnu Gurcan Turkoglu, to return home “for consultations”.
Most of the Palestinians killed on Monday were shot by Israeli snipers, Gaza's health ministry has said, and included a eight-month-old baby who died from tear gas inhalation along with eight children under the age of 16.
The bloodbath came amid the ceremony to open the US Embassy in Jerusalem, which caused mass protests and condemnation in Muslim countries.
It also sparked criticism of the states supporting the two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Turkey announced three days of national mourning for Gaza casualties and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu to be the head of “an apartheid state”.
In his tweet Erdogan said that Netanyahu “has the blood of Palestinians on his hands and can’t cover up crimes by attacking Turkey.”
He also accused Israel of occupying the land of defenceless people in violation of United Nations resolutions.
He said: "Turkey will react to this harshly. We have withdrawn our ambassadors from Washington and Tel Aviv for consultations."
"We also propose to convene an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.
“We will hold talks with many leaders and we are declaring a three-day national mourning starting tomorrow.”
In return, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu struck back at the Turkish President on Twitter, describing him as "a person who sends thousands of Turkish soldiers to support the occupation of Northern Cyprus and invades Syria."
He said: “A man whose hands are stained with the blood of countless Kurdish citizens in Turkey and Syria is the last person to preach to us about combat ethics.”
The falling out was the latest between the two leaders which poses a threat to the already insecure relations between the two countries.
The diplomatic relations between Turkey and Israel were re-established only in 2016, after being broken off for several years.
Belgium summoned the Israeli ambassador, Simona Frankel, to a meeting Wednesday with its Foreign Ministry to discuss the diplomatic fallout from the bloodshed in Gaza.
Belgium’s Prime Minister on Monday called for an international probe of the events in Gaza while linking them to the relocation of the US embassy to Jerusalem.