Turkey has announced that it will halt all trade with Israel as tensions worsen over the war in Gaza.

       Two Turkish officials familiar with the matter confirmed that the pause in trade went into effect on Thursday, as reported by Bloomberg.

       Israel's Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that any attempts to block imports and exports would be breaking agreements, and labelled Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

       He wrote on X: "This is how a dictator behaves, disregarding the interests of the Turkish people and businessmen, and ignoring international trade agreements."

       Turkey has not formally announced the move, though it comes after Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Monday that Israel blocked its air force from airdropping aid to Gaza.

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       Fidan said action would be taken as a result of this interference, promising "step by step" measures that would be implemented "without delay".

       Turkey's trade ministry said on social media: "This decision will remain in place until Israel declares a ceasefire immediately and allows adequate and uninterrupted flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza."

       The measures included a list of 54 products expected to be affected by export restrictions, which Fidan said were all approved by Erdogan.

       Erdogan has previously branded Israel a "terrorist state", accusing it of commiting a "genocide" against Palestinians in Gaza, while calling Hamas a "liberation group".

       He said on election night: "The result of this election was decided by the behaviour of those who continued to trade freely with Israel and the Zionist murderers."

       Last year, Turkey's exports to Israel stood at ￡4.3 billion, compared with ￡5.5 billion in 2022, according to the Turkish Exporters’ Union and statistics agency Turkstat.