Netanyahu declares Israel won't ease Gaza blockade

  • 8 years ago
Arutz Sheva  has learned that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu clarified on Monday during a Likud faction meeting that Israel will not remove the blockade on Gaza as part of a rapprochement deal with Turkey .
Netanyahu's statements come after Yassin Aktay, a senior adviser to the Turkish Prime Minister, gave an interview to a Hamas controlled paper and said Israel had agreed to reduce the pressure on Gaza, although he did not specify how.
Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel on Monday openly called to build a Gaza seaport , even though the move was firmly opposed by Israel when Hamas demanded it following Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014 due to the serious danger of weapons smuggling.
The talk of a rapprochement deal with Turkey comes after ties broke down following the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident, when elite IDF soldiers were forced to board the Turkish Mavi Marmara ship, which ignored repeated warnings to stop its attempt to breach the maritime blockade on Gaza - a blockade that is legal under international law.

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