A union representing workers at the consumer goods factory said the assailant was holding seven people Footage from the scene showed police setting up a cordon around the sprawling plant ANKARA/ISTANBUL: Police detained an armed man who took staff hostage at a Procter & Gamble factory in northwestern Turkiye on Thursday and rescued seven hostages, ending a protest against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, the local governor’s office said. The Kocaeli governor’s office said that the hostages were unharmed, adding that the operation to rescue them was launched after negotiations with the hostage-taker failed. “Our security forces intervened and neutralized the suspect,” the statement said, adding that the hostage-taker was an employee of the factory who “wanted to draw attention to the ongoing occupation in Gaza.” The hostages were six men and a woman, media reports had said. Earlier local media reports mentioned two hostage-takers, but a statement by the P&G’s head office in Cincinnati, US, hours later also referred to one assailant. “The fact that no one was harmed is our greatest relief. We are grateful to the authorities and first responders who managed the situation with courage and professionalism,” the spokesperson said. Earlier, private news agency DHA said the suspects entered the main building of the facility at around 3 p.m. local time (1200 GMT) and took seven members of the staff hostage. It claimed the suspects’ actions were to highlight the loss of life in the Palestinian enclave. Some 27,000 have been killed in Israel’s military operation since Oct. 7, according to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry. Ismet Zihni said his wife Suheyla was among the hostages. Speaking from near the factory, he told DHA that he had called her. “She answered ‘We’ve been taken hostage, we’re fine’ and she hung up,” he said. P&G Turkiye employs 700 people at three sites in Istanbul and Kocaeli, according to the company’s website. It produces cleaning and hygiene brands such as Ariel washing powder and Oral B toothpaste. Public feeling against Israel and its main ally the US has risen in Turkiye since the conflict began, with regular protests in support of the Palestinian people in major cities and calls for an immediate ceasefire. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been particularly outspoken, referring to Israeli “war crimes” and comparing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. The US Embassy in Ankara issued a warning in November about demonstrations “critical of US foreign policy” and calls for boycotts of US businesses. The advice followed protests and attacks on outlets such as McDonald’s and Starbucks over the conflict in Gaza. The photograph of the suspect carried in the Turkish media shows him with a black-and-white Arabic headscarf covering his face. He is standing next to a graffitied wall showing the Turkish and Palestinian flags with the slogan “The gates will open. Either musalla or death for Gaza.” A musalla is an open prayer area for Muslims, usually used for funeral rites.