ISTANBUL, Turkey — An assailant on Thursday took people hostage at a plant owned by US consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble near Istanbul in protest of the war in Gaza, a police spokesman said.
A union representing workers at the sprawling complex said the assailant was holding seven people, adding that the rest of the plant’s workers had been released.
A police spokesman could not confirm the figure to AFP, and the US embassy in Ankara referred all queries to Turkish officials.
“Earlier today, we evacuated our Gebze facility and are working with local authorities to resolve an urgent security situation,” P&G said in a statement released to AFP, adding that it had no information about the assailant’s motives.
“The safety of P&G people and our partners is our top priority,” the Cincinnati, Ohio-based company added.
The private DHA news agency published a photo widely circulated online of the alleged assailant holding a gun and what appeared to be a suicide vest strapped to his chest.
The man was standing next to a drawing of the Palestinian flag, and the words “the door will be opened for Gaza” were painted on the wall in red.
AFP could not immediately verify the image, which Turkish media said came from a social media feed set up by the hostage taker.
Asked to confirm media reports of the attack being linked to Gaza, a police spokesman said “it is true” that this was the motive for the attack.
Haberturk television reported that police had established contact with the assailant and were attempting to negotiate the hostages’ release.
Footage from the scene showed police setting up a cordon around the sprawling plant, and fire trucks and ambulances rushing in.
The war in Gaza was triggered when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists burst through the Gaza border into Israel on October 7, launching assaults on more than 20 communities. Some 1,200 people were slaughtered, including 360 at an outdoor music festival, thousands were injured and 253 people were dragged to Gaza as hostages.
Of those taken hostage, 132 still remain in Gaza, not all of them alive. Hamas is also holding the bodies of fallen IDF soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin since 2014, as well as two Israeli civilians, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who are both thought to be alive after entering the Strip of their own accord in 2014 and 2015 respectively.
Following the deadliest attack in Israel’s history, the country vowed to eradicate Hamas from the Palestinian enclave and launched an aerial operation and subsequent ground invasion.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza has said that more than 27,000 people have been killed since the start of the Israeli offensive, a figure that cannot be independently verified and includes some 10,000 Hamas operatives Israel says it has killed in battle. Israel also says it killed some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has emerged as one of the Muslim world’s harshest critics of Israel for its campaign in Gaza, which the UN estimates has displaced around 85% percent of the Strip’s 2.3 million residents.
He has branded Israel a “terrorist state” and compared Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler.
Erdogan has also accused the United States of supporting “genocide” in Gaza due to its backing of Israel and the military aid it has provided.
Erdogan’s comments reflect widespread anger across the predominantly Muslim but officially secular country at the United States for its traditional support for Israel.
Hundreds of protesters stormed a southeastern Turkish air base used by US and British forces on the eve of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Ankara in November.