Turkey sparks outrage after embassy in Tel Aviv lowers flag to half-mast for Hamas terrorist
Turkey sparked outrage on Friday after its President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ordered a day of mourning for the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and flags around the globe were apparently lowered to half-mast – including in Israel.
The Israeli foreign minister summoned the deputy Turkish ambassador for a "severe reprimand" after the Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv lowered its flags in honor of Haniyeh's death.
"The State of Israel will not tolerate expressions of mourning for a murderer like Ismail Haniyeh," Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.
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Katz went on to accuse Erdoğan of turning Turkey into a "dictatorship" over its support for "Hamas' murderers and rapists, against the stance of the entire free world."
Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Oncu Keceli, responded to Katz's comments and said, "You cannot achieve peace by killing negotiators [or] threatening diplomats," in an apparent reference to Haniyeh, who was reportedly involved in ongoing ceasefire talks.
Pictures on social media show that the Turkish flag was not only lowered to half-mast in Tel Aviv, but also in Washington, D.C., though Fox News Digital could not immediately verify these images.
Neither the Turkish embassy in Washington, D.C., nor the U.S. State Department immediately returned Fox News Digital’s questions regarding the incident.
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Erdoğan has been vocal in his condemnation of the killing of the Hamas terrorist earlier this week in Iran.
Haniyeh was killed in an attack that allegedly involved a bomb that had been planted in the visitor quarters where Haniyeh was staying in Tehran, according to a report by the New York Times.
Questions have mounted over how a bomb was allegedly planted months ahead of time in a building heavily monitored by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Israel has not taken credit for the killing of the Hamas leader like it did for the strike in Beirut on Tuesday, in which Hezbollah leader Fuad Shukr, head of the group's military operations, was killed.
Iran, along with Hamas and Hezbollah, has still accused Israel of the death of Haniyeh and has vowed to take revenge.
Reuters contributed to this report.