Israeli airlines say they’re still traversing Turkish airspace despite declared closure
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Friday said Ankara has “totally cut” trade with Israel and closed Turkey’s airspace to Israeli planes, though Israeli airlines said they received no new instructions.
A Turkish diplomatic source later clarified that Fidan only meant Israeli government flights and flights carrying weapons to Israel would be barred from Turkey’s skies.
“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.
The clarification came after Israeli officials earlier told The Times of Israel that they believed Fisan was simply laying out, with some inaccuracies, actions Turkey already took against Israel over the war against Hamas in Gaza.
“We have totally cut our trade with Israel, we have closed off our ports to Israeli ships and we are not allowing Turkish vessels to go to Israel’s ports,” Fidan told an extraordinary parliamentary session on Israel’s attacks on the Strip.
“We are not allowing container ships carrying weapons and ammunition to Israel to enter our ports, and airplanes to go into our airspace,” he added, without giving details.
Fidan also said Turkey was set to carry out airdrops of aid to Gaza. “Our planes are ready; once Jordan gives its approval, we will be in a position to go,” he told lawmakers.
The Israeli government did not immediately comment on Fidan’s remarks, which came a day after Saudi outlet Al-Hadath reported that an Israeli © The Times of Israel
