Israel's Minister of Intelligence assessed as "serious and difficult" the statements of the Turkish Prime Minister, who said that Turkish ships with humanitarian aid to Gaza will be accompanied by Turkish naval forces in the future.
"Those statements are serious and difficult, but we don't want to stir up controversy," Dan Meridor told Israel Military Radio. "It is better to be silent and wait, it is not in our interest to make the situation worse by responding with verbal attacks," he added.
Meridor said that "Turkey will still be the one to violate international law" if it tries to break through the Israeli naval blockade of the Gaza Strip by force, given that "the UN commission has recognized the legitimacy" of that blockade.
Turkish warships will follow any Turkish ship carrying humanitarian aid to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Thursday in an interview with Al Jazeera.
Erdogan also said that Turkey has taken steps to prevent Israel's unilateral exploitation of the natural resources of the Eastern Mediterranean, Reuters reported.
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