Baku-APA. A planned agreement between Turkey and Israel to normalize relations after a six-year hiatus will lead to an improvement in the blockaded Gaza Strip’s humanitarian situation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday, APA reports quoting Anadolu Agency.
The accord, which will be formally signed on Tuesday, will pave the way for the restoration of bilateral relations more than six years after Israeli commandos stormed a Gaza-bound Turkish aid flotilla in international waters, killing nine Turkish activists and injuring another 30, one of whom succumbed to his injuries nearly four years later.
"Under the deal, the sea blockade of Gaza will remain in place," Netanyahu was quoted as saying by Israeli state media. "This is a sensitive security issue and is not up for negotiation."
"The Gaza security blockade will remain in place… so as to prevent Hamas [which has governed the strip since 2007] from bolstering its military capacities," he said.
However, he added, the expected deal with Turkey would allow the Gaza Strip’s war-battered water and electricity infrastructure to be rebuilt.
"Water shortages make life harder for those living in the Gaza Strip," Netanyahu said. "Solving this problem will be good for Israel."
The deal, he added, "will also protect [Israeli] military personnel now and in the future by ensuring that Turkey doesn’t file lawsuits against them" for their roles in the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident.
Netanyahu went on to assert that Turkey and Israel were both "strong countries in the region", saying: "The suspension of [Turkey-Israel] ties has hindered cooperation between us."
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