ANKARA: As Turkiye sought an international arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu for “genocide” linked to interception of an aid flotilla for Gaza, the Israeli prime minister office vowed to act forcefully against Turkiye’s “attempts to destabilise the region”.
Israel’s interception of the flotilla carrying some 430 activists in May sparked an international outcry. Besides Turkiye, France, Italy and Australia have also launched judicial proceedings.
Turkiye’s Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said on X that his ministry had asked the interior ministry to issue interpol red notice alerts for Netanyahu and another Israeli, named as Afek Moskovitch.
“As part of the judicial proceedings concerning the attack in international waters on the Flotilla activists (...) and in accordance with the arrest warrants issued on July 14, 2026, against Benjamin Netanyahu and Afek Moskovitch for ‘genocide’, the ministry of justice has requested that the ministry of the interior issue red notices for their international arrest,” the minister stated.
Netanyahu and Moskovitch are being prosecuted for “crimes against humanity, genocide, aggravated deprivation of liberty, ‘intentional assault and battery,’ torture, destruction of property, aggravated looting, and hijacking of transport vehicles”, the ministry said.
About 50 vessels were in the Global Sumud Flotilla that left Turkiye in May heading for the besieged Palestinian territory. The activists were detained in the Mediterranean by the Israeli military and then taken to an Israeli prison before being expelled.
‘Anti-semitic dictator’
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan an “anti-semitic dictator” and vowed Israel would “continue to act forcefully against Turkiye’s attempts to destabilise the region”.
Two more Palestinians killed
Meanwhile, Israeli forces shot dead a 58-year-old Palestinian man in the city of Jenin, in the north of the occupied West Bank.
Fathi Zidan Hazem “died from injuries sustained after being shot by Israeli forces early Friday,” the Palestinian health ministry said.
In southern West Bank, an Israeli settler shot dead a 17-year-old, the ministry said.
Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2026
