Footballer detained in Turkey will return to Israel

TEL AVIV, January 15 The Israeli Foreign Ministry announced on Monday that thanks to diplomatic efforts, an Israeli football player, detained the day before in Turkey for publicly supporting Hamas hostages, has been released and will return to Israel today.
Earlier on Sunday, Turkish Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunç said that the Antalya prosecutor's office had launched a judicial investigation against Israeli Antalyaspor footballer Sagiv Yehezkel due to his behavior after scoring a goal in a Super League match. On Sunday, Antalyaspor drew at home with Trabzonspor (1:1). After scoring the goal in the 68th minute, Yehezkel pointedly pointed to a bandage with the inscription “100 days. 7.10” with the image of the Star of David, thus expressing support for the Israeli hostages who have been held captive for 100 days in the Gaza Strip. Antalyaspor suspended the Israeli from games for “speaking against the national values ​​of Turkey.”
«Following diplomatic and consular efforts by the Foreign Ministry and other officials, football player Sagiv Yehezkel has been released from custody and will return home to Israel this evening,» the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz, commenting on the incident with the detention of the football player, called it “a dark dictatorship that tramples the values ​​of humanism and sport.”

“Whoever arrests a football player for an act of solidarity with 136 abductees who have been held for over 100 days by a murderous terrorist organization represents a culture of murder and hatred. I call on the international community and international sports organizations to stand up against Turkey and its use of violence and threats against athletes in political purposes. Today it is Sagiv Yehezkel, and tomorrow it is another athlete,» Katz said.
From the very beginning of the escalation in the Middle East in October 2023, the Turkish leadership sided with Hamas and repeatedly publicly accused Israel of committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
On October 7, Israel was subjected to an unprecedented-scale rocket attack from the Gaza Strip as part of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, announced by the military wing of the Palestinian Hamas movement. After this, the organization’s fighters entered the border areas in southern Israel, where they opened fire on both military and civilians, and also took more than 200 hostages. In Israel, according to the latest data from the authorities, about 1.2 thousand people were killed, this number includes civilians, soldiers, foreign citizens and workers, and it was also reported that more than 5 thousand were injured.
In response, the Israel Defense Forces launched Operation Iron Swords against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Within a few days, the Israeli military took control of all populated areas near the border with Gaza and began carrying out air strikes on targets, including civilians, in the strip. Israel also announced a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip: the supply of water, food, electricity, medicine, and fuel was stopped.

The number of victims of Israeli shelling of the Gaza Strip since October 7 has risen to 23,968, more than 60 thousand people were injured.
At the end of October, the ground phase of the Israeli operation in the enclave began. Gaza City was surrounded by Israeli ground forces, and the enclave was effectively divided into southern and northern parts.
Hamas claimed that there were about 200-250 hostages in the Gaza Strip. After the end of the truce, Israeli authorities announced that 126 Israelis and 11 foreigners remained hostage from Hamas, and 110 abducted were released.
The Russian Foreign Ministry called on the parties to stop hostilities. According to the position of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the settlement of the Middle East crisis is possible only on the basis of a “two-state” formula approved by the UN Security Council, which provides for the creation of an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with its capital in East Jerusalem.

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict, related to the territorial interests of the parties, has been a source of tension and clashes in the region for many decades. A UN decision with the active role of the USSR in 1947 determined the creation of two states — Israel and Palestine, but only the Israeli one was created.