Israel says it approved aid to quake-hit Syria, Damascus denies request

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has given the go-ahead to send aid to earthquake-hit Syria, but a Damascus official swiftly denied they had requested help in the first place.

Israel "received a request from a diplomatic source for humanitarian aid to Syria, and I approved it," Netanyahu told lawmakers from his hawkish Likud party, adding the aid would be sent soon.

But a Syrian official told reporters Damascus "ridiculed and denied the allegations" that it had requested aid from Israel.

"How can Syria ask for help from an entity that has killed ... Syrians for decades?" said the official.

Syria's government does not recognize Israel and the two countries have fought several wars since Israel's creation in 1948.

Netanyahu's office declined to provide further details on the source of the request to help Syria, where hundreds of people were killed by a 7.8-magnitude earthquake Monday in neighboring Turkey.

The Israeli leader has also confirmed his government would send humanitarian assistance to Turkey following the disaster.

Israel's foreign ministry said a team of search and rescue specialists would leave for Turkey on Monday, and that another delegation equipped with humanitarian supplies would follow on Tuesday.