By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
ANTALYA, TURKEY (Worthy News) – Israel’s national carrier, El Al, announced Sunday that its flight from the Polish capital, Warsaw, to Tel Aviv in Israel was not allowed to refuel in Turkey after an emergency landing there to evacuate a passenger for medical reasons.
El Al said Turkish workers at Antalya airport in south-west Turkey refused to refuel flight LY5102 before it could take off for Israel. Turkish diplomats confirmed the emergency landing.
After waiting several hours on the tarmac of Turkey’s third busiest airport, the plane took off for Rhodes Island in Greece to refuel before heading to Tel Aviv.
Despite temperatures of up to 38 Celsius (100.4 Fahrenheit) outside, according to weather reports monitored by Worthy News, passengers were reportedly told they had no permission to leave the plane.
“Local workers refused to refuel the company’s plane even though it was a medical case,” El Al said, adding that the passenger was evacuated.
Relations between Turkey and Israel further deteriorated since the war in Gaza broke out on October 7 when Hamas attacked Israel, killing some 1,200 people and abducting about 250 other persons.
After Israel launched its war against Hamas, all direct flights between Israel and Turkey were canceled.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been a vocal critic of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and expressed support for Hamas as defenders “of their homeland.”
Hamas was designated as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States, and the European Union, among others.
The Hamas-run health ministry claims Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 37,877 people in Gaza, mostly civilians. Israel has given slightly lower figures and says nearly half of the dead are “Hamas terrorists.”
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
Hungary’s prime minister told U.S. President Donald J. Trump on Friday that it would take a miracle for Ukraine to win the war against Russia. Viktor Orbán made the remarks at the White House, where Trump asked him during a joint news conference about the prospects for Kyiv’s victory.
Hungarian prosecutors have requested a two-year suspended prison sentence for Gábor Iványi, a 76-year-old Methodist pastor, once a close confidant of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, and several opposition politicians, in a case widely viewed as politically charged.
In a decision that could reshape federal identification standards, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday allowed the Trump administration to enforce its policy requiring Americans to list their biological sex–male or female–on passports, rather than self-identified gender.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R–S.D.) told Republican senators Thursday to prepare for a critical Friday vote aimed at ending the nation’s longest-ever government shutdown — now in its sixth week — as lawmakers scramble to reach a deal amid growing economic strain and partisan stalemate.
The Senate on Thursday narrowly rejected a Democratic resolution that would have required President Donald Trump to seek congressional approval before taking military action against Venezuela, marking the second failed attempt in as many months to rein in the administration’s campaign targeting Venezuelan drug-trafficking vessels.
Kazakhstan has officially joined the Abraham Accords, becoming the first country to do so during U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term, the White House confirmed Thursday evening.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Thursday carried out a sweeping wave of airstrikes targeting Hezbollah’s elite Radwan Force and its terror infrastructure across southern Lebanon, marking one of the largest military operations since the November 2024 ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.