Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi discussed the Gaza war and ways to further repair the long-frozen ties between the regional powers during talks in Ankara, in the first such presidential visit in 12 years.

Relations between Ankara and Cairo collapsed in 2013 after Egypt’s then-army chief Sisi led the ousting of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Mursi, a Turkish ally who had become Egypt’s first democratically elected president the year before, Reuters reported.

Ties between the two countries began thawing in 2020 when Ankara launched a diplomatic drive to ease tensions with its estranged regional rivals, including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

Last year, Ankara and Cairo mutually reappointed ambassadors and Turkey said it would also provide Cairo with armed drones. Erdogan travelled to Cairo in February for his first trip to Egypt since 2012.

He met Sisi at Ankara airport on Wednesday and the two then travelled in the same car to the presidential palace for around two hours of talks.

“With a win-win mindset, we will carry our multi-dimensional ties forward,” Erdogan said, adding Ankara particularly wanted to deepen ties with Egypt on natural gas and nuclear energy.

Ministers from the two countries signed 18 memorandum of understanding on cooperation in energy, defence, tourism, health, agriculture, finance, culture, education, and transport.

Speaking at a joint press conference, Erdogan reiterated that Turkey and Egypt wanted to boost annual trade by $5 billion to $15 billion in the next five years.

He added that Ankara and Cairo shared a “common stance” on the Palestinian cause, while Sisi said they were both calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to violence in the West Bank.

Turkey, which has condemned Israel for its war against Hamas militants in Gaza, has sent thousands of tonnes of aid to Egypt for Palestinians and praised Cairo’s humanitarian efforts and role as negotiator in the talks on a ceasefire and hostage deal.

Sisi said they also discussed the situation in Libya, over which the two countries have long been at odds and backed opposing factions in an unresolved conflict.

“We stress that it is important to turn the page on the ongoing crisis through holding presidential and parliamentary elections simultaneously with the exit of illegal foreign forces and mercenaries from the country, and put an end to the presence of armed militias to end the division,” he said.

The helicopter crash in which Iran’s late President Ebrahim Raisi was killed was primarily caused by weather conditions that included thick fog, Iran’s state TV said on Sunday, citing the final investigation report on the incident, Reuters reported.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, a hardliner who was seen as a potential successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, died when his helicopter crashed in May in a mountainous region near the Azerbaijan border.

“The main reason of the helicopter crash was complicated weather conditions in the region,” the final report concluded, according to Iran’s state TV.

A thick mass of fog caused the helicopter that was carrying Raisi and his companions to crash into the mountain, the report issued by a high committee charged by Iran’s military with investigating the incident said.

A preliminary report by Iran’s military had said in May that no evidence of foul play or an attack had been found during the investigation, read the report.

Three Israelis were killed on Sunday when their vehicle came under fire near the city of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, Israeli officials said.

The military confirmed the attack in the area of the Idna Tarqumiyah Junction, saying that security forces were searching for the assailants, Reuters reported.

Hundreds of Israeli troops have been carrying out raids across the West Bank since last Wednesday in one of their largest actions in the area in months, which Israel says is aimed at rooting out Islamist militants.

The operation has drawn international calls for a halt.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said three policemen had been in the vehicle and were killed in Sunday’s attack.

“We are fighting on all fronts against a cruel enemy who wants to murder us all,” Netanyahu said, also referring to six Israeli hostages killed in captivity in Gaza and whose bodies were recovered from a tunnel on Sunday.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a hardline member of Israel’s security cabinet, called for more action against Palestinian militants in the West Bank.

“We need to do now what we didn’t do that awful night and launch a pre-emptive strike and strike terrorism hard,” he said, referring to Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

“We are committed to eliminating terrorism on all fronts,” he said, speaking from the scene of Sunday’s attack.

Israel’s ambulance service had initially said two people had been killed and a third critically wounded.

Hamas, which is fighting a war with Israel in Gaza, praised the attack in the West Bank, but did not claim it, saying it was a “natural response to the massacres and genocide in the Gaza Strip”.

“We call on all those who carry weapons to direct their bullets at the chests of the occupiers who continue to commit massacres against our people in Gaza Strip,” the statement said.

Israel denies committing acts of genocide in the Gaza war, which was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7 strike on Israel.