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JERUSALEM, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Israel's security cabinet approved the rapprochement agreement with Turkey, despite objections from top ministers and public criticism.
The agreement, officially signed on Tuesday, normalizes ties between the former allies after a deadly Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound Turkish flotilla in 2010 strained their relations.
The security cabinet, Israel's top decision-making forum on security issues, approved the deal with three out of its 10 ministers voting against it, a spokesperson for the government told Xinhua.
The newly appointed defense minister Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the far-right Yisrael Beiteinu ("Israel is Our Home"), Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, both from the ultra-nationalist Jewish Home, voted against the deal.
Families of missing Israeli civilians, who were killed in Gaza during Israel's 2014 offensive against the enclave, told local media they are "disappointed" with the decision. They demand the return of the bodies of their loved ones be part of the deal.
The bereaved families entered the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office and stated their pleas on Wednesday morning, after pitching a protest tent in front of his official residence in Jerusalem.
The agreement will soon go to the Turkish parliament for a vote , where it is expected to pass.
With the deal approved, the two countries will exchange ambassadors in the upcoming months. They also plan to begin talks over gas exports from Israel to Turkey.
Israel and Turkey, once close allies, suspended diplomatic ties and cooperation after Israeli commandos killed ten Turkish activists who sailed to the Gaza Strip to protest the Israeli-imposed blockade in May 2010.
Under the agreement, Israel will pay 20 million U.S. dollars in damages, and allow Turkey to carry out humanitarian projects in Gaza.
Turkey would pass a bill that would not allow citizens to sue Israeli soldiers who took part in the raid, and relinqushed its demand for Israel to remove its naval blockade of the Gaza Strip, ruled by the Islamist Hamas movement since 2007.
