The diplomatic honeymoon between Israel and Turkey abruptly ended Saturday with Tel Aviv recalling all its diplomatic staff from Ankara.

The recall was in response to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's vitriolic remarks on Israel's military operation against Hamas terrorists in the Palestinian territory of Gaza.

The announcement dealt a body blow to the sides' nascent efforts to restore political and economic relations after a decade of all but frozen ties.

Israel and Turkey — an overwhelmingly Muslim nation that forms the bulwark of North Atlantic Treaty Organization defenses on the edge of the Middle East — had only just agreed to reappoint ambassadors last year.

They were also resuming discussions on a United States-backed natural gas pipeline project that could have formed the basis for much closer and more lasting cooperation in the coming years.

But their relations unravelled as Erdogan began to pick up the pace and venom of his attacks on Israel's retaliatory military operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Hamas terrorists staged a surprise attack on Israel on 7 October during which they killed 1,400 people — mostly civilians — and seized more than 220 hostages.

The Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza has said Israeli strikes have killed 7,703 people — also mainly civilians — with more than 3,500 of them children.

Erdogan's Islamic-rooted party staged a massive rally in Istanbul on Saturday that the president said drew a crowd of 1.5 million people.

"Israel, you are an occupier," he told the Turkish and Palestinian-flag waving sea of supporters.

He accused the Israel government of behaving like a "war criminal" and trying to "eradicate" Palestinians.

"Of course, every country has the right to defend itself. But where is the justice in this case? There is no justice — just a vicious massacre happening in Gaza."

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen recalled all diplomatic staff from Turkey moments after Erdogan finished his remarks.

"Given the grave statements coming from Turkey, I have ordered the return of diplomatic representatives there in order to conduct a reevaluation of the relations between Israel and Turkey," he said in a statement.

A Turkish diplomatic source said all Israeli diplomats had left the country by 19 October.

The sides' diplomatic relations are now in danger of falling to the lows they experienced when an Israeli raid on a Turkish ship carrying aid into Gaza killed 10 civilians in 2010.

Erdogan has been a leading international supporter of Palestinian rights during his two-decade rule.