A fresh escalation has erupted between Israel and Turkey, with the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launching a fierce attack on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, just hours after Turkish authorities issued an arrest warrant against the Israeli premier.

Tension between the two countries has been building in recent days, following an Israeli air strike in Syria and Israeli concerns over the possible deployment of Turkish troops in the area.

In a statement, Netanyahu’s office accused the Turkish president of trying to widen his confrontation with Israel into Syria.

“Erdogan is now seeking to extend his aggression against Israel into Syria. Israel will not tolerate this,” the statement said.

The Israeli prime minister’s office also repeated earlier accusations against Erdogan, branding him an “antisemitic dictator” and accusing him of attacking the Kurds, harbouring Hamas terrorists, occupying the northern part of Cyprus, and imprisoning large numbers of journalists and political opponents.

Israel’s statement came after Turkey’s decision to issue an international arrest warrant for Netanyahu, as part of an investigation into Israel’s interception of a flotilla of activists bound for Gaza.

Tel Aviv responded by describing Ankara’s move as an “attempt to intimidate” Israeli leaders and soldiers.

“Erdogan’s pathetic attempt to intimidate the leaders and soldiers of Israel, the only true democracy in the Middle East, will go nowhere,” Netanyahu’s office said.

In a separate statement, the Israeli government stressed that it would continue to respond “with determination” to Turkish efforts to destabilise the region and to any threat to Israel’s security.

Turkey requests Interpol ‘red notice’ for Netanyahu

Turkey had earlier requested that Interpol issue a “red notice”, an international alert used to locate and provisionally arrest wanted individuals, against Netanyahu and another Israeli citizen, Turkish Justice Minister Akin Gurlek announced on X. The request forms part of an investigation into the interception of the “Gaza flotilla” and the detention of the activists on board.

“As part of the judicial process concerning the attack in international waters on the flotilla’s activists (…) and in accordance with the arrest warrants issued on 14 July 2026 against Benjamin Netanyahu and Afek Moskovits for genocide the Justice Ministry has asked the Interior Ministry to issue red notices with a view to their international arrest,” the Turkish minister said.

Netanyahu and Moskovits are being prosecuted for “crimes against humanity, genocide, unlawful deprivation of liberty, deliberate assault and injury, torture, destruction of property, looting and hijacking of means of transport”, the ministry said.