Turkey and Norway have expressed their willingness in principle to operate a seaport in the Hamas enclave of Gaza, according to the Palestinian delegation in Cairo.
According to a report in Israel Today, the government in Ankara has already announced its intention to send to Gaza over 3,000 prefabricated houses to be quickly assembled, accommodating local Arab families whose homes were destroyed during Operation Protective Edge.
The seaport proposal gives international credence to Hamas's unprecedented demands for unlimited transportation and import access. The terror group has already demanded an international airport in Gaza, a demand which has been categorically denied thus far in the negotiating process due to its security threat on Israel.
Turkish Prime Minister and newly elected President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has become an increasingly vocal supporter of Hamas, and has heavily criticized Israel since Operation Protective Edge began 35 days ago.
Indeed, Erdogan's country has reportedly become Hamas's lead sponsor since 2013.
The premier has made a slew of anti-Semitic remarks over Operation Protective Edge in Gaza, and threatened to end the normalization process with Israel over "state terrorism."
He has also accused Israel of "lies" because "not enough" Israeli Jews have died in the conflict, and has compared Jewish Home MK Ayelet Shaked to Adolf Hitler.
In a speech Sunday night, he claimed he was beginning to evacuate the wounded from Gaza, in a claim later revealed to constitute of transporting four people to Turkey for medical treatment.
Norway, meanwhile, called on Israel as an "occupier" to show "restraint" in the escalation leading up to the current conflict, claiming that reacting to the rain of rocket fire on Israel would be violating international law.
“As the occupying power in the West Bank, Israel has a special responsibility under international law," Foreign Minister Borge Brende charged in July. "Neither statements of its intent to step up its settlement policy in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which is in violation of international law, nor major offensives against Gaza are the way forward."