Turkey Thursday sent two fire-fighting planes to Israel to help fight a devastating forest fire, in a gesture to the Jewish state amid lingering bilateral tensions, the CNN Turk television reported.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a fierce critic of Israeli policies towards the Palestinians, ordered the despatch of the planes, the channel reported.
At least 40 people were killed when fire ripped through a forest near Israel's northern city of Haifa, prompting urgent calls for international help to put out the blaze, described as the worst in the country's 62-year history.
Turkey's ties with Israel, once its closest regional ally, plunged into crisis on May 31 when Israeli forces killed nine Turks on a Gaza-bound aid ship.
Relations had been already strained over Israel's devastating war on the Gaza Strip last year, during which Erdogan frequently denounced the Jewish state and defended radical Palestinian group Hamas.
Earlier Thursday, Turkey's interior minister said Israel seemed to be "benefitting" from the impact of US cables disclosed so far by the WikiLeaks website as he questioned whose interests the leaks served.
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