The Chief Prosecutor’s Office in Istanbul issued arrest warrants for 46 suspects in an investigation into Israeli intelligence service Mossad's alleged plot targeting foreigners in Türkiye.
Thirty-four suspects were detained on Tuesday, authorities announced. Operations are underway to capture the other suspects. Authorities said operations were held in eight provinces against people suspected of involvement in espionage activities for Israel.
The investigation found that Israeli intelligence was behind activities targeting foreigners residing in Türkiye, from reconnaissance to assaults and abduction attempts. No other details are available regarding the investigation, but Mossad was implicated in the past in investigations about attempts to kidnap Palestinians living in Türkiye.
Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya shared a video of operations jointly carried out by police and the National Intelligence Organization (MIT). On a social media post, Yerlikaya said an investigation into international espionage activities led to the operations. "We will not allow espionage targeting our national unity," Yerlikaya said. The minister said authorities discovered more than 143,000 euros ($157,300) and more than $23,000 in the possession of suspects, along with one pistol and a large amount of munitions.
Media outlets reported that the arrests followed an investigation by the counterterrorism office of the Chief Prosecutor's Office on Mossad's targeting of Palestinians as well as Israeli activists opposing Israel's aggression targeting Palestinians. The nationalities of the suspects were not disclosed but they were in touch with the Mossad operatives via social media.
Turkish intelligence sources told Anadolu Agency (AA) last month that Israeli intelligence was warned against any attempt to assassinate members of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas in Türkiye.
Israel will hunt down Hamas in Lebanon, Türkiye and Qatar even if it takes years, the head of Israel’s domestic security agency Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, said in a recording aired by Israel’s public broadcaster Kan, before the statements of Turkish intelligence sources.
"The Cabinet has set us a goal, in street talk, to eliminate Hamas. This is our Munich. We will do this everywhere: in Gaza, in the West Bank, in Lebanon, in Türkiye, in Qatar. It will take a few years, but we will be there to do it," he said.
By Munich, Bar was referring to Israel’s response to the 1972 killing of 11 Israeli Olympic team members when gunmen from the Palestinian Black September group launched an attack on the Munich games. Israel responded by carrying out a targeted assassination campaign against Black September operatives and organizers over several years and in several countries. Hamas leaders reside in or frequently visit Lebanon, Türkiye and Qatar. Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh even attended a landmark meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the capital Ankara last summer, in talks hosted by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for improvement of ties between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.
The Turkish sources said such an action would result in serious consequences. The warning by Turkish officials, who asked not to be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media, followed an earlier Wall Street Journal story alleging that amid ongoing Israeli attacks on Gaza, Israel also plans to assassinate Hamas members living outside Palestine, including in Türkiye, Lebanon and Qatar. The necessary warnings against any such action were made to the Israeli officials concerned, Turkish officials said.
The officials mentioned that various foreign intelligence services had previously tried to carry out illegal activities on Turkish territory but without success, stressing that no foreign intelligence service would be allowed to carry out such operations on the soil of the Republic of Türkiye.
Turkish officials have condemned the brutality of Israel’s attacks on Gaza, taking more than 20,000 lives and stressed that Hamas, which Israel has said it aims to eradicate, is not a terrorist group.
Türkiye, even at times of potential rapprochement with Israel after the two countries’ relations deteriorated over Türkiye’s support for the Palestinian cause, was uncompromising on Israeli intelligence’s operations in its territories. Apart from dismantling the secret cells of Mossad, Türkiye most recently saved a Palestinian hacker from his abductees, according to reports in the Turkish media. Omar A., a hacker associated with Hamas who reportedly managed to disrupt Israel’s Iron Dome defense system, was abducted in Malaysia, where he traveled from Türkiye. Turkish intelligence alerted Malaysian authorities and secured his release from Mossad-linked abductors and brought him back to Türkiye, where he now resides in a safe house.