The State of Israel and the Republic of Türkiye formally established diplomatic relations in March 1949. Less than a year after the Israeli Declaration of Independence, Turkey recognized Israeli sovereignty, making it the world's first Muslim-majority country to do so. Both countries gave high priority to bilateral cooperation in the areas of diplomacy and military/strategic ties, while sharing concerns with respect to the regional instabilities in the Middle East.

In recent decades, particularly under Turkey's Erdoğan administration, the two countries' relationship with each other has deteriorated considerably. However, diplomatic ties were reinstated after a normalization initiative in mid-2022. Relations soured again after the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, with Turkey condemning Israel and backing Hamas.

On 13 November 2024, Erdoğan announced that Turkey was severing all its diplomatic relations with Israel due to Israel's reluctance to end the Gaza war.

In 1999, the New York Times reported that the strategic partnership between Turkey and Israel had the potential to alter Middle East politics: Trade and tourism were booming, the Israel Air Force practiced maneuvers in Turkish airspace and Israeli technicians were modernizing Turkish combat jets. There were also plans for high-tech cooperation and water sharing.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan paid an official visit to Israel in 2005 and said he hoped to play a role in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Relations deteriorated after the 2008–09 Gaza War and the 2010 Gaza flotilla raid. In March 2013, Israel apologized for the raid, opening a path for normalized relations. Alleged Turkish involvement in exposure of Israeli special agents in Iran in October 2013 created further tension. In December 2015, Turkey and Israel held a secret meeting to negotiate restoration of diplomatic relations. They reached an agreement on 27 June 2016 to start normalizing ties.

In December 2017, Erdoğan threatened to break off ties again, this time due to United States recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Under Sultan Bayezid ll, the Ottoman Empire was welcoming and supportive of Jewish refugees. As a result, the Jews were fiercely loyal to the Ottoman Empire during the anti-Ottoman rebellions in the Balkans and fled to regions under its jurisdiction when persecution intensified against Jews in Russian Empire and Western Europe. Zionist leader Theodor Herzl even asked then-Ottoman Sultan, Abdul Hamid II, to acquire Palestine and fulfil the promise of returning to Zion.

However, with the rise of Turkish nationalism in late 19th century, Jews started to bear pressure, as the Young Turks government were determined to Turkify all non-Turk subjects, including Jews. Eventually, with the outbreak of World War I, the Ottoman Empire had begun losing its tolerance toward Jews, and openly demonstrated systematic oppression and deportation on the Jewish subjects, accusing them of collaborating with the British Empire. Many Jews were also either suspected to be Russian agents, since most Jews migrated to Palestine were from Russia at the time, despite various figures like David Ben-Gurion and Yitzhak Ben-Zvi sought to ally with Turkey, eventually led to deportation and repression on Jews intensified. The hostility against Ottoman Empire among Jews increased leading to the establishment of Nili, a Jewish espionage spy network fighting the Ottomans, but they were exposed in 1917 and only escaped from the genocide that Ottoman Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians endured due to political intervention from Germany and Vatican. Despite this, the Tel Aviv and Jaffa deportation, issued by Djemal Pasha in 1917 in retaliation to the Jewish spy ring, was the final string of this hostility, during which thousands of Jews were killed, has continued to weigh influence on the modern Israeli–Turkish relations as well as Israel's relations with Turkic world.