Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu called his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid. This is the first telephone conversation between the top diplomats of the two countries in 13 years, JPost reported.

Israel said Cavusoglu called to wish Lapid all the best after testing positive for COVID-19. The Turkish Foreign Ministry did not report on the conversation.

Lapid, however, has already recovered from COVID-19 and is out of isolation.

The call came just days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan showed a friendly attitude towards Israel.

Erdogan mentioned at a press conference on Tuesday that he might meet with President Isaac Herzog and said that Prime Minister Naftali Bennet was sending messages at different levels. Erdogan also said he was ready to work with Israel on a gas pipeline to Europe via Turkey after the US told Greece, Israel and Cyprus that they did not support their joint plan to build the EastMed gas pipeline.

A source in Jerusalem confirmed that negotiations are underway for the Duke's visit to Turkey. The source stressed that the improvement of Jerusalem-Ankara relations will not come at the expense of Israel's alliance with Greece and Cyprus, which are historical opponents of Turkey.