A gunman claiming to be acting “for Gaza” held seven workers at a Turkish plant of the US group Procter & Gamble (P&G) for nine hours on Thursday, who were eventually released and are safe and sound.

Sedar Yavuz, the hostage-taker and former factory worker, was arrested without violence during a brief police operation, ending what appeared to be a protest against the Israeli military, according to the governor of Kocaeli province in northwestern Turkey. business in Gaza.

“Our security forces carried out their operation when he went to the toilet, without harming the hostages,” he explained to reporters at the scene and clarified that the attacker testified that he is not a member of any political party or armed organization.

The attacker was calling for an end to Israeli military operations in Gaza and the opening of the Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, the governor said.

Families gathered near the scene confirmed to AFP that the seven hostages, including a 26-year-old woman, were fine.

“We are very happy after these many hours of waiting. Thank God they are all safe,” Fatma Dursoun, an aunt of one of the hostages, told AFP.

The man, who had “two guns” and possibly an explosive “device”, according to the governor, stormed the scene around 2.30pm.

Authorities “told us that the attacker was arrested and that the hostages were released,” a relative of one of the hostages told AFP after a meeting with a local official.