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Israeli soccer player detained in Turkey over message marking 100th day since Oct. 7
(JTA) — An Israeli who plays for a Turkish soccer team was detained by police and suspended from his squad after displaying a message marking the passage of 100 days since Oct. 7.
Sagiv Jehezkel, 28, who plays for the top-tier Antalyaspor club, wrote “100 days” and “7.10” on a bandage on his left wrist at a game on Sunday, accompanied by a Star of David, referring to the day when Hamas invaded Israel, killing and wounding thousands and taking hundreds of hostages. He showed the message to the camera after he scored a goal.
Pro-Palestinian sentiment is widespread in Turkey, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan referred to Hamas as a “liberation group” following Oct. 7. After the game, Jehezkel was detained by Turkish authorities for “instigating hatred and enmity among the public,” the country’s justice minister said.
Antalyaspor’s president said Jehezkel “insulted the values of Turkey,” and the team has said it will release him from his contract.
Jehezkel was held for 10 hours and released after questioning from police and court officials. According to the Associated Press, he told police that he was “not pro-war” and said, “I want this 100-day process to come to an end. I want the war to end.” He added, “I have never engaged in anything related to politics since my arrival. I have never disrespected anyone since the day I arrived.”
After his release, Jehezkel returned to Israel, where he was met by fans who cheered and waved Israeli flags to greet him. In Israel, his gesture is being widely interpreted as a call for the release of the hostages taken captive by Hamas on Oct. 7, more than 100 of whom remain held in Gaza.
Jehezkel, who was wrapped in an Israeli flag upon descending from the airplane, reinforced that sentiment after coming home.
“This was the hardest day of my life, but we will be strong,” he said, according to the Israeli publication Ynet. “It is most important that our hostages return and that our heroic soldiers stay healthy, and that the wounded heal. It is most important that the nation of Israel lives.”
Israeli officials slammed Turkey over its detention of Jehezkel. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called Turkey “the executive arm of Hamas” in a tweet, while Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz called Turkey a “dark dictatorship, which works against humanitarian values and the values of sports.”
“Whoever arrests a football player for a show of solidarity with 136 captives who are more than 100 days with the terrorists of a murderous terrorist organization, represents a culture of murder and hate,” Katz said.
Jehezkel is the latest in a string of athletes who have been caught in the storm of the Israel-Hamas war and its ripples around the world. Last week, Jewish South African cricket player David Teeger was removed as the captain of his country’s Under-19 national team, which cited the potential for anti-Israel protests against him.
Earlier this month, Algerian soccer player Youcef Atal, who plays for the French club Nice, received an eight-month suspended prison sentence and a fine after he was convicted of inciting religious hatred for sharing an Instagram post calling for “a black day over the Jews.” Atal, who was also suspended by his club, has since apologized for the post.
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The post Israeli soccer player detained in Turkey over message marking 100th day since Oct. 7 appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.