Turkey's justice ministry has formally requested an Interpol red notice for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli official Afek Moskovitch, escalating a legal dispute stemming from the interception of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. The arrest warrants were originally issued on July 14 by Istanbul's 11th High Criminal Court, which is hearing a case against 35 defendants on charges including genocide, crimes against humanity, torture and aggravated deprivation of liberty.
The case centres on the Israeli military's boarding in May of roughly 50 vessels carrying about 430 activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla, who were attempting to break the blockade of Gaza with food, baby formula and medical supplies. The passengers were forcibly taken to Israel and held at Ktziot prison. A red notice is not a binding international arrest warrant but a request circulated through Interpol to locate and provisionally detain suspects.
Netanyahu responded by calling Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan an "antisemitic dictator". The Turkish move follows arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court in 2024 against Netanyahu and former Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant. The announcement, made by Justice Minister Akin Gurlek on X, comes amid already strained ties after Israel bombed a military airport in Syria's Idlib province on August 19.