Turkey and Israel appointed ambassadors Nov. 15 as part of a normalization of ties. Israel appointed Eitan Na'eh as ambassador to Turkey, while Kemal Okem was named Turkey's ambassador to Israel. The two countries agreed on June 28 to resume relations after a six-year rupture sparked by an Israeli assault on the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish ship carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, on May 31, 2010. It seems certain that their agreement to resume relations will affect Hamas' ties with Ankara.

Khaled Meshaal, head of Hamas' political bureau, had visited Ankara on June 24, three days before Turkey and Israel announced their reconciliation. On the day the Turkish-Israeli agreement was made public, Hamas issued a statement expressing its gratitude to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for his support to Gaza and for official and popular Turkish efforts to aid Palestinians in Gaza and ease the siege against them. Hamas also said that it looked forward to Turkey's continued support of the Palestinian cause.

Husam Badran, the Qatar-based official spokesman for Hamas, told Al-Monitor, “Hamas-Turkish ties are solid, built on a strong foundation. They depend on Turkish official and popular support for the Palestinian cause. Palestine has a special intellectual and historic prestige in the eyes of the Turks, thus Hamas-Turkish ties will not be negatively affected by Turkey's foreign relations with various parties. Although Hamas, first, believes that the normalization of ties with the Israeli occupier does not serve the interest of our people, Turkish policy considers the lifting of the siege on Gaza a priority for which great efforts are being made.”

Yossi Melman, a security expert with ties to the Israeli security establishment, said on Nov. 5 that Israel had expressed its disappointment to Ankara that members of Hamas continued to operate in Turkey, although Israel had asked that they be expelled and their offices closed.