Netanyahu's Turkey visit next week will be first by an Israeli leader in 15 years

President Erdogan to separately hold talks with top Palestinian and Israeli leaders in Ankara

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will host Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu. AFP

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu next week in Ankara, the first visit by an Israeli premier in 15 years.

Mr Netanyahu is expected to arrive in the Turkish capital on July 28 to hold talks with Mr Erdogan on regional and international issues.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will also visit Ankara a few days before Mr Netanyahu.

“President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will welcome the Palestinian [Authority] President Mahmoud Abbas and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Turkey in the course of the same week,” the presidency said.

The leaders will discuss "Turkey-Palestine relations and the latest developments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as other topical international issues", it said.

Mr Netanyahu's office confirmed the visit, the first by an Israeli prime minister since Ehud Olmert in 2008.

Turkey's diplomatic drive comes at a time when the Israeli-Palestinian peace process is at a standstill, against a backdrop of the worst violence in years in the occupied West Bank.

In April, clashes broke out at Jerusalem's flashpoint Al Aqsa mosque compound, where Israeli police fought with Palestinians at the holy site.

Mr Erdogan said Israel had crossed a "red line".

Israel's President Isaac Herzog held talks with Mr Erdogan in Turkey and a few months later former prime minister Yair Lapid met with Mr Erdogan in New York.

West Bank violence

Jenin, a city in the northern Israeli-occupied West Bank, has been a rocked by frequent and fatal Israeli army raids and gun battles this year.

Violence in the West Bank has worsened over the past 15 months, with increased Israeli raids, Palestinian street attacks and settler rampages in Palestinian villages.

More than 150 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the start of this year in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem, AP said.