World Bulletin / News Desk

Turkey will not co-operate with Israel on energy policy while it is attacking Gaza, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz has said.

Speaking at a press conference in Ankara on Monday, Yildiz said any proposal for a natural gas pipeline between Israel and Europe, via Turkey, could not go ahead for political reasons.

He said: "An energy project's economic feasibility is also important as its political feasibility and now, if we build a natural gas pipeline between Israel and Turkey, innocent children's blood would flow from this pipeline."

Yildiz added: "Now there is an unjust situation in Gaza but if the attacks stop, Turkey could discuss energy [with Israel]."

Turkey’s diplomatic relations with Israel were reduced following the 2010 Israeli attack on a Turkish aid flotilla to Gaza in which ten activists were killed.

Speaking at the same meeting, Maltese Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi said the international community and Malta felt sympathy with Gaza.

He said Palestine’s energy shortage had been discussed by European Union energy ministers last month.

At least 1824 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed and 9450 wounded in unrelenting Israeli attacks since then.

The Israeli army on Sunday confirmed that 64 troops had been killed and 400 others injured in the ongoing Gaza military operation.

Gaza-based resistance factions, meanwhile, have continued to fire rockets at Israeli cities, killing three civilians.

The offensive – codenamed "Operation Protective Edge," is the self-proclaimed Jewish state's third major offensive against the densely-populate Gaza Strip within the last six years.