2nd aid shipment for Gaza by September Eid: Deputy PM

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey will ready another aid ship to Gaza before the Eid-al-Adha holiday in September, Deputy Prime Minister Veysi Kaynak said on Thursday.

Speaking in Turkey's capital Ankara, Kaynak confirmed that another aid ship will be readied before the Eid of Sacrifice.

Following a breakthrough restoration of Turkish-Israeli ties, a Turkish aid ship carrying 11,000 tons of supplies for the Gaza Strip arrived at Israel’s Ashdod port on July 3, just before the post-Ramadan Eid al-Fitr holiday.

The Panama-flagged Lady Leyla delivered 10,000 toys and 10,000 packages of food and aid for children in Gaza.

Kaynak recalled how Turkey and Israel froze their ties in 2010 after Israeli troops stormed the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara aid ship in international waters, killing 10 Turkish activists.

"Israel realized our terms to revive relations between the two countries,” he said. “Israel agreed that Turkey will be the coordinating country in delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza."

Kaynak said that distribution of the aid shipment -- food, toys, and packages of aid for children -- began on the first day of the Eid al-Fitr holiday and still continues.

He also confirmed that the new shipment will deliver as much aid as the first.

Under the deal reached between Turkey and Israel -- in addition to agreeing to Turkey’s humanitarian presence in Gaza -- Israel will pay $20 million in compensation to the families of the Mavi Marmara victims.