...Responding to an international appeal by Ankara following Sunday's 7.2 magnitude quake that killed more than 400 people and forced thousands to flee their homes in the eastern Van province, Israel planned to fly out a small number of prefabricated homes and said it could ship hundreds more by sea......Israeli relief after a 1999 Turkish earthquake helped seal a strategic partnership that has since collapsed over Israel's Palestinian policies and the killing of nine Turks aboard an activist ship that tried to breach its Gaza blockade.

Despite the crisis, Turkey's Islamist-rooted government dispatched firefighters to help Israel contain a deadly blaze in its northern Carmel forest in December.

"When a country is in distress and has humanitarian problems, it is right to help and put things aside for a minute," said Ehud Shani, director-general of Israel's Defence Ministry, which had overseen bilateral military cooperation.

A ministry spokesman said a plane carrying six or seven prefabricated homes was scheduled to depart on Wednesday evening, and another on Thursday. A ship was also being prepared to supply hundreds more of the structures, if required, he said.....