Blockade of the Gaza Strip

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an met with Khaled Mashaal, leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, on Dec. 19 in Istanbul, Turkish presidential sources said, a day after Israel and Turkey said they were close to patching up a five-year political rift. 

Sevil Erku?sevil.erkus@hurriyet.com.trA Turkish government official has confirmed to Hürriyet Daily News that Israeli and Turkish officials held talks in Switzerland over the broken ties and may reach a deal soon.

Israel and Turkey have reached a preliminary agreement to normalize relations, including the return of ambassadors to both countries, Reuters quoted an Israeli official as saying on Dec 17.

Hamas on Oct. 11 warned Israel against ?foolishness? after an air strike by the Jewish state in the Gaza Strip in response to rocket fire killed a pregnant woman and her toddler.

?This shows the occupation?s desire to escalate,? said Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip. ?We warn the occupation against continuing this foolishness.?  

U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said Sept. 9 that she has spent years trying to convince Israeli to apologize to Turkey for a deadly attack on an aid flotilla to Gaza in 2010.

"We lost what was not just a working relationship but a real bridge," Clinton said. "I spent, you know, literally years trying to get the Israelis to finally apologize to the Turks on the flotilla."

The Turkish government will begin rebuilding nine mosques that were devastated during a summer 2014 operation by Israel, according to Israeli officials.

The procedure for full confirmation of the projects that will be carried out by the Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) was completed last week, Israeli officials told the Hürriyet Daily News.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) ordered July 16 its chief prosecutor to review a decision not to probe Israel?s deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla in 2010, saying ?errors were made.?

Israel and Palestinians mark one year since last summer's devastating war in the Gaza Strip on July 8, with a ceasefire still largely holding but few of the issues that led to the conflict resolved.

Israel deported Tunisian ex-president Moncef Marzouki and European parliament member Ana Miranda on June 30 after they took part in a flotilla seeking to defy its Gaza blockade, an official said.

Israel's navy boarded and took over an activist vessel seeking to break its Gaza blockade and was escorting it to port on June 29 in an operation that did not use force, the military said.