Turkiye detains 33 agents spying for Israel

Istanbul, Turkiye – AFP

Turkiye has detained 33 people suspected of spying for Israel’s Mossad intelligence service, Turkish media reported, without specifying the nationalities of those detained.

The suspects were rounded up in raids across eight provinces around Istanbul, private and state-run news agencies reported, adding that their mission included conducting abductions and carrying out reconnaissance work.

Turkish security services were still looking for 13 more suspects accused of “international espionage” on Israel’s behalf, the reports said.

Relations between Turkiye and Israel deteriorated sharply following Israel’s launch of its unprecedented military assault on Gaza.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has emerged as a harsh critic of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing hawkish policies, which he has compared to those of Adolf Hitler last week.

Erdogan has recalled Ankara’s envoy to Tel Aviv and demanded that Israeli commanders and political leaders be put on trial for war crimes at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

The bloody assault on Gaza has ended what had seemed to be a gradual improvement in Turkish-Israeli relations.