The Hamas movement on September 2 welcomed Turkey’s decision to expel Israel’s ambassador and its criticism of the Jewish’s state blockade of the Gaza Strip.“Hamas welcomes the decision (of Turkey) to expel the Israeli ambassador and considers it as a clear answer to Israeli crimes,” Sami Abu Zuhri, spokesman for the movement, said.The group, which rules Gaza, praised the decision, announced by Ankara on September 2, a day after a leaked UN report on a deadly 2010 Israeli raid on a flotilla of aid ships heading to the impoverished coastal territory. Hamas criticised the report as “unfair and unbalanced,” and Abu Zuhri condemned Israel for “its continued refusal to take responsibility for the crime (of the raid) and its refusal to lift the siege on Gaza.”
In Ankara, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said his nation rejected the report, regarding it as “null and void.”The Turkish decision increases Israel’s isolation at a sensitive time. Israel faces turmoil in ties with another regional ally, Egypt, where longtime leader Hosni Mubarak was deposed earlier this year and where there have been growing calls to revoke the three-decade-old Egypt-Israel peace agreement. Last month, Egypt briefly threatened to withdraw its ambassador from Israel after a shooting in southern Israel left five Egyptian soldiers dead.
Turkish Foreign Minister AhmetDavutoglu told a news conference all diplomatic staff above the level of second secretary would be sent home by September 7.Turkey would also freeze military pacts with its erstwhile ally. “All military agreements have been suspended,” he said.