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.
Turkish workers at Antalya airport refused to refuel flight LY5102 before it could take off for Israel, El Al said in a statement.
“Local workers refused to refuel the company’s plane, even though it was a medical case,” it said, adding that the passenger was evacuated.
The plane then took off to Rhodes in Greece, where “it will refuel before taking off to Israel,” the airline said.
Turkish diplomatic sources confirmed the plane was allowed to make an emergency landing to evacuate a sick passenger.
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“Fuel was to be provided to the plane due to humanitarian considerations, but as the relevant procedure was about to be completed, the captain decided to leave of his own accord,” a Turkish diplomatic source said.
Hebrew media reports said the Foreign Ministry had been assured by the Turkish authorities that the plane would be allowed to refuel, but in practice, it did not happen. Since the plane was burning fuel on the tarmac to keep air conditioning and other systems functioning, it was decided to take off for Rhodes, a 40-minute flight away, and refuel there, before even that short flight became impossible.
The plane was expected to land at Ben-Gurion Airport later Sunday.
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.
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.
AFP contributed to this report.
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