Turkey was among Israel’s biggest trading partners between 2019 and 2023, according to trade figures published by Al Jazeera.
The scale of commercial ties between Turkey and Israel that endured even as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan escalated his political attacks on Israel over Gaza has long been a point of harsh criticism directed against the Turkish government at home and abroad.
Al Jazeera said Israel’s largest trading partners in that five-year period were the United States, China, Germany and Turkey. It said trade with Turkey accounted for 4.8 percent of Israel’s total trade between 2019 and 2023, valued at $35.7 billion.
Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, which began after the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel prompted a political fallout as Erdoğan has presented himself as one of Israel’s sharpest critics, while facing growing pressure inside Turkey over trade links that continued for months after the start of Israel’s Gaza offensive.
Turkey announced restrictions on exports to Israel in April 2024 and later said it had halted all trade.
Despite Ankara’s embargo claims, trade trackers and media reports have described how shipments continued by shifting routes.
One channel involved Greek ports, where data from the Turkish Exporters Assembly showed Turkish exports to Greece jumped 71 percent in May 2024 from a year earlier to $375 million, with goods then re-exported onward to Israel.
Another channel involved the Palestinian territories, where Turkish exports surged 423 percent in the first eight months of 2024. Observers said paperwork listing Palestine as the destination was being used to move goods into Israeli ports.
Oil shipments also remained part of the story.
A report backed by the Stop Fueling Genocide campaign said 10 crude oil shipments were made from Turkey to Israel in 2024, despite the trade embargo, adding to accusations that Turkish infrastructure and ports were still enabling flows that supported Israel’s military operations.
United Nations International Trade Statistics Database figures previously showed Turkey was Israel’s fifth-largest supplier in 2024, with exports totaling $2.86 billion, despite Ankara’s public stance.
Since October 2023 UN experts, rights groups and courts have warned that Israel’s siege, bombardment and forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza meet the definition of genocide.
The International Court of Justice has issued three sets of provisional measures ordering Israel to prevent genocide, allow aid and halt operations in Rafah. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch concluded in December 2024 that Israel was committing genocide. Israeli groups B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights-Israel documented systematic attacks on hospitals and denial of medical aid in 2025, and they also said Israeli authorities are committing genocide in Gaza.
On August 31 the International Association of Genocide Scholars passed a resolution saying Israeli actions meet the legal definition of genocide. On September 16 a UN Commission of Inquiry concluded that Israel committed genocide in Gaza, citing killings, conditions of life calculated to bring destruction and statements by senior Israeli officials.
Gaza remains in crisis after Israel’s military campaign that followed the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. Local health authorities have reported more than 71,000 deaths in Gaza.
A ceasefire that took effect on October 10 has not ended Israel’s deadly strikes in Gaza.
A UN report in October said Turkey was among the countries that enabled Israel’s genocide, citing trade data showing continued oil shipments and trans-shipments from Turkish ports to Israel through intermediaries despite the official trade suspension.