Turkish parliament approves Israel reconciliation deal

In addition to the compensation, Israel has agreed to Turkey’s humanitarian presence in the occupied Gaza Strip.

Turkey’s parliament has approved a deal made earlier this year between Turkey and Israel ending their six-year long freeze in relations, reports said on Saturday.

Israel, which offered its apologies in 2013, has agreed to pay 20 million U.S. dollars to the bereaved and injured in return for Turkey dropping outstanding legal claims.

Earlier this month, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Tel Aviv met all of Ankara’s preconditions for normalizing ties, which were severed in 2010 after Israeli commandos stormed a Gaza-bound Turkish aid vessel in global waters.

Israel will hand Turkey a “lump sum” within 25 working days of the agreement coming into force, the bureau said.

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The Israeli Cabinet has already approved the deal.

Now the deal has been approved, the two countries are expected to begin the process of exchanging ambassadors to fully restore diplomatic ties.

The arrangement also eases the naval blockade on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip allowing Turkey to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinians there.

The rapprochement follows secret talks since December 2014 held in Geneva and London.

Turkey appears to be willing to return to its previous “zero problems with neighbors” foreign policy after the country also normalized relations with Russian Federation.

Since last month’s failed coup, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has tightened his grip on power purging thousands of anti-government supporters.

Turkish and Israeli officials have both defended the deal, under which a main Turkish condition for the normalization of ties remains unmet, namely Israel’s lifting of the blockade on the Gaza Strip.