“Turkish soldiers will not be deployed in the Gaza Strip,” an Israeli government spokesperson told reporters on Sunday when asked whether Ankara will take part in the interim international force expected to enforce the truce in the enclave, Ynet reported.
Jerusalem opposes any involvement by Turkey in the reconstruction of Gaza, due to its support for Hamas and hostility toward Israel.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has repeatedly used inflammatory rhetoric against Israel since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack and throughout the Gaza war, and Ankara has imposed a series of anti-Israel measures, including a trade boycott.
On Nov. 7, the Istanbul Prosecutor’s Office issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and 36 other Israeli officials.
Defense Minister Israel Katz on Sunday slammed Turkey’s move, calling on Erdoğan to “take his ridiculous arrest warrants and get out of here.”
He added in a post on X that the warrants would be fitting for “the massacre you carried out against the Kurds. … Israel is strong and unafraid. You will only see Gaza through binoculars.”
Katz included in his tweet an AI-generated image of the Turkish leader observing a reduced-to-rubble Gaza via binoculars.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Friday lambasted Turkey in a tweet as well.
“In Erdoğan’s Turkey, the judiciary has long since become a tool for silencing political rivals and detaining journalists, judges, and mayors. Israel firmly rejects, with contempt, the latest PR stunt by the tyrant Erdoğan,” Israel’s top diplomat stated.
The Istanbul Prosecutor’s Office - which, as recalled, recently orchestrated the arrest of the Mayor of Istanbul merely for daring to run against Erdoğan - has now issued “arrest warrants” for Israeli leaders and senior officials.
— Gideon Sa'ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) November 7, 2025
In Erdoğan’s Turkey, the judiciary has long…
On Oct. 27, Sa’ar stressed that Jerusalem will not accept the inclusion of Turkish armed forces in U.S. President Donald Trump’s International Stabilization Force for the Gaza Strip.
“Countries that want or are ready to send armed forces should be at least fair to Israel,” Sa’ar declared at a news conference in Budapest, speaking alongside his Hungarian counterpart.
“Turkey, led by Erdoğan, led a hostile approach against Israel,” the Israeli diplomat said. “So it is not reasonable for us to let their armed forces enter the Gaza Strip, and we will not agree to that, and we said it to our American friends.”
