An El Al flight from Warsaw en route to Tel Aviv was not allowed to refuel after making an emergency landing in Antalya, Turkey, on Sunday to evacuate a passenger in need of medical attention.

After waiting on the tarmac for several hours, the plane took off for Rhodes, where it was set to refuel before heading to Tel Aviv.

Passengers were told that they were expected to spend several hours on the ground in Turkey, without permission to leave the plane, according to Hebrew media reports.

Turkey denied that the plane was encountering any trouble refueling, reports said.

All direct flights between Israel and Turkey were canceled shortly after the war against the Hamas terror group broke out on October 7, when thousands of terrorists invaded southern Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has backed Hamas in the  war, in which Israel has sought to topple Hamas as Gaza’s de facto government, to secure the release of the hostages taken on October 7, and to prevent the Gaza Strip from posing a security threat to Israel going forward.

Erdogan hosted Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Istanbul in April, and in May, he said that more than 1,000 members of Hamas were being treated in Turkish hospitals.

In May, Turkey cut off all trade with Israel — a dramatic move for Israel’s fifth-largest source of imported goods, and one that was expected to result in price increases in Israel, at least in the short term.