(USASABAH and Agencies)
Turkish prime minister refused to back down in a row with Israel Tuesday, accusing his country's former allies of behaving like a "spoilt child" and threatening to visit the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
As Israel said it wanted to avoid relations worsening, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed a halt to all military cooperation and that Turkey's navy would conduct more high-profile patrols in the eastern Mediterranean.
Last week, Turkey announced that the Israeli ambassador Gaby Levy was being expelled and all bilateral military agreements were suspended as it angrily rejected the findings of a United Nations probe into the deadly flotilla raid.
Now in his first official reaction since that announcement, Erdogan went even further.
"We are totally suspending our trade, military, defence industry relations," he told reporters.
However his office later clarified that Erdogan did not mean a suspension to commercial ties in general but merely "in the defence industry area".
"We are talking with the Egyptians on this matter ... A trip to Gaza is not finalised yet," Erdogan, who is due to visit Egypt next week, told reporters.
Such a visit to the tiny strip of Palestinian territory alongside the Mediterranean would be bound to infuriate Israel but Erdogan seemed in no mood for diplomacy.
"Israel has always played the role of a spoilt child," he said in reference to Israel's attitude towards the Palestinians.
And in another display of muscle-flexing, Erdogan said that Turkish naval vessels would be more visible in the eastern Mediterranean.
"From now our vessels will be seen more often in those waters. We will see them very often", said Erdogan.
Speaking after Erdogan's comments, an Israeli official said the government there did not want its relationship with Turkey to deteriorate any further.
