Turkey severs economic ties to Israel

Turkey has decided to completely sever all commercial and economic ties with Israel and is closing its airspace to Israeli planes, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said.

"We oppose a plan to deport the Palestinian people from Gaza, regardless of who proposes it," Fidan said.

According to the diplomat, excluding Israel from the works of the U.N. General Assembly is among the objectives of like-minded countries.

A Turkish diplomatic source later clarified that Fidan meant Israeli government flights and flights carrying weapons to Israel.

"The minister's comments refer to official Israeli flights and flights carrying weapons or ammunition to Israel. This does not apply to transit commercial flights," the source said.

He added that commercial flights through its airspace would remain unchanged.