Ankara: Turkey is supplying medical equipment to Israel to help the country fight the Covid-19 outbreak, despite strained ties.
According to a senior Turkish official, Israel is expected to allow a similar shipment of Turkish aid to reach Palestinian authorities without any holdups.
Israeli authorities weren’t immediately available for comment on Thursday, which is a public holiday in the country, said The Bloomberg.
Before now-President Recep Tayyip Erdogan took power in 2003, Turkey was Israel’s closest partner in the Muslim world, and their militaries had strong ties.
Relations strained when in 2010 a Turkish flotilla bound for the Hamas-run Gaza Strip was raided by Israeli commandos, resulting in the deaths of 10 civilians.
Israel has confirmed about 9,000 cases of the virus and more than 50 deaths.
Here is a list of other countries receiving aid from Turkey:
United States
According to TRT World, Turkey has sent 500,000 coronavirus test kits to the US upon their request, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on March 19.
United Kingdom
A Turkish military cargo plane carrying virus gear arrived in the UK on Friday.
“At the direction of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish Armed Forces aircraft that will transport to United Kingdom the medical aid supplies prepared by Turkey’s Health Ministry to be used in the fight against Covid-19 has departed Etimesgut/Ankara,” the Turkish Defence Ministry said on Twitter.
“After hopelessness, there is so much hope and after darkness, there is the much brighter sun – Rumi.” – said the message on the medical aid supplies.
Our Turkish Armed Forces plane carrying medical supplies prepared for the UK to help combat the COVID-19 virus has landed in London, said the official twitter account of the Republic of Turkey Ministry of National Defence.
Libya
Turkey on Friday sent medical supplies to Libya.
“At the direction of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as part of the preventative measures against Covid-19 virus, medical supplies were sent to our Libyan brothers and our military training cooperation and consultancy teams who are on duty in the region,” the country’s National Defence Ministry said on Twitter.
Pakistan
The Turkish ambassador said that Ankara would not leave Pakistanis alone at this trying time
Ration bags comprising flour, rice, sugar, oil and other essential commodities were provided to the needy people in garrison city of Rawalpindi by Stichting Internationale Humanitaire Hulporganisatie Nederland (IHH-NL) at a ceremony held at the office of Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA), said a statement.
Balkan states
A Turkish military cargo plane carrying medical supplies for use against the coronavirus pandemic arrived on Wednesday in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Kosovo
Spain
Spain confirmed on Wednesday the arrival of ventilators from Turkey.
“Respirators from Turkey are already in Spain. Unloading at the Barajas Airport,” the Foreign Ministry said on Twitter while it shared images of a Turkish flagged plane with cargo.
Earlier in the day, the ministry also announced 150 ventilators from Turkey are already on the way, arriving tonight in Spain and to be delivered, as planned, to their final destinations, Castilla y La Mancha and Navarra autonomous regions, reported the TRT World.
Italy
A Turkish military plane carrying medical aid landed in Italy, officials said on April 1.
According to a statement from Turkey’s National Defence Ministry, the plane took off from its first stop, Madrid in Spain to Italy.
Iran
Medical aid sent by the Turkish Health Ministry has reached the country’s capital, Tehran, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said on March 26 in a statement.
Northern Cyprus
Turkey provided $11 million (72 million Turkish liras) financial aid for the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus to help fight the coronavirus pandemic, the Turkish vice president said on March 21.