President Tayyip Erdogan spoke with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas by telephone on Sunday night and told him a deal had been reached with Israel to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, sources from the Turkish presidency said. The call came as senior officials from both Turkey and Israel said a deal had been reached to normalize ties to end a rift dating to 2010, after the Israeli navy killed 10 Turkish pro-Palestinian activists involved in an aid flotilla that tried to breach an Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip. The presidential sources said Abbas expressed satisfaction with the developments. A deal was expected to be formally announced at 1000 GMT by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in Rome and Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim in Ankara. Israel, which had already offered its apologies — one of Ankara's three conditions for a deal — for the lethal raid on the Mavi Marmara activist ship, agreed to pay out $20 million to the bereaved and injured, an Israeli official said. A senior Turkish official described the deal as a "diplomatic victory" for Turkey which accepted Ankara's conditions, although Israel has not agreed to lift the Gaza blockade, one of the conditions for an agreement. Under the deal, Turkey will deliver humanitarian aid and other non-military products to Gaza and carry out infrastructure projects, such as residential buildings and a hospital, the official said. Steps to tackle the city's water and power supply crisis will also be taken. Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said on Monday that a "certain point" was reached in normalizing Turkey's relations with Israel in talks on Sunday. "A certain point was reached in talks on June 26 and this will be announced in a simultaneous statement by both prime ministers at 1 pm (1000 GMT)," Kurtulmus told reporters during a break from a cabinet meeting. The once-firm allies had been quietly mending fences in trade and tourism since their leaders held a conciliatory telephone call in 2013 and negotiations have intensified over the past six months to pave the way for a mutual return of ambassadors. Netanyahu travelled to Rome on Sunday to meet US Secretary of State John Kerry and Israeli and Turkish officials were also in the Italian capital to finalize the deal. A senior Israeli official said senior foreign ministry diplomats from both countries would separately sign parallel agreements on Tuesday. The deal, politically touchy for both countries, could pave the way for lucrative Mediterranean gas deals and a diplomatic reprieve from Turkish troubles with next-door Syria and Europe. The rare rapprochement in the Middle East, bitterly divided over Syria's civil war, has been largely driven by increasing security risks with the rise of Daesh and as both countries seek new alliances amid a polarized region. Israel demanded that its military officers and government officials be indemnified against prosecution on war crimes allegations. The Israeli official said the money would be paid after Turkey's parliament passed legislation on the issue. Turkey's Islamist-rooted President Tayyip Erdogan had cast himself as guardian of Palestinian interests and engaged Hamas. Separate to the agreement, the Israeli official said Erdogan would instruct relevant Turkish agencies to resolve the issue of missing Israelis in the Gaza Strip. — Agencies
