Israeli police: Palestinian arrested after attempted attack

“There is a breakthrough regarding the blockade”, the Turkish official said.

In 2010, Israeli commandos stormed the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara, the largest ship in an aid flotilla for the besieged Gaza Strip.

In addition, the two countries will return their respective ambassadors to Ankara and Tel Aviv.

All Turkish lawsuits against Israel will be canceled, and Turkey will prevent senior Hamas operative Salah Aruri from entering its territory and acting from there, the source added. Arouri is a founding member of the al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas.

According to the agreement reached in Switzerland, the official said, the countries will discuss the possibility of constructing a pipeline to supply Turkey with gas.

Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin told reporters on December 9: “If the Israeli side takes steps in this regard, we, of course, will take the necessary steps in accordance”.

The first of these conditions was fulfilled in 2013 when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized to then Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the attack.

“I think that there is a serious, meaningful chance for thawing and normalizing relations between Israel and Turkey”. “Israel has always sought stable relations with Turkey and is constantly looking for ways of how to get there”, Foreign Ministry Director-General Dore Gold said in a statement.

“We think an agreement between Turkey and Israel will be against Turkey, the Palestinian people and the peoples of the Middle East”, it said, adding there was no change in its position on the Gaza blockade and Mavi Marmara.

“Erdogan’s comments are most likely the result of Turkey’s relative regional isolation following tension with Egyptian President [Abdul Fattah al-] Sisi and Syrian leader [Bashar al-] Assad as well as its recent crisis with Russian Federation”, says Israeli analyst Calev Ben Dor.

However, the two countries had not resolved whether, nor how much, compensation should be paid to the families of the victims.

An independent Israeli commission charged with investigating the raid concluded that the outcome was “regrettable” but legal under worldwide law.

He hopes the Quartet and the worldwide community could put mechanisms to hold Israel accountable for destroying the two state solution and continuing to besiege Gaza.