Israeli player leaves Turkey after detention over '100 days' message-minister

ISTANBUL/JERUSALEM :Israeli soccer player Sagiv Jehezkel left Turkey on Monday, Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on social media platform X, after he was questioned by police over a message he displayed on his wrist during a match alluding to the passage of 100 days since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

"Sagiv Jehezkel, the Israeli footballer of Antalyaspor, left our country at 5:15 p.m. (1415 GMT)," the minister said.

Turkish police had detained Jehezkel overnight and freed him on Monday.

Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc had said prosecutors were investigating Jehezkel on a charge of "inciting people to hatred and hostility" for displaying a note written on his bandaged wrist saying "100 days, 7.10", alongside a Jewish Star of David emblem.

Israel's Foreign Ministry said Turkish authorities released Jehezkel from police custody and that he would return to Israel on Monday, and its defence minister denounced Turkey over the detention, accusing it of acting like an arm of Hamas.

Jehezkel's southern Turkish soccer team, Antalyaspor, also said he had been freed and a private jet would take him and his family back to Israel, and that he was being kicked off the team for acting against Turkish national values.

Jehezkel, 28, held his clenched fist aloft to display the message after scoring a goal for Antalyaspor against Trabzonspor in Turkey's Super Lig on Sunday.

Antalya prosecutors launched an investigation into Jehezkel "due to his ugly gesture supporting Israel's massacre in Gaza after scoring a goal", Tunc said on social media platform X.

"I did not act to incite or provoke anyone. I am not a pro-war person," broadcaster NTV reported Jehezkel as saying.

"There are Israeli soldiers held hostage in Gaza. I am someone