An El Al plane that departed Sunday from Warsaw, Poland made an emergency landing at Antalya (AYT) airport, 700 miles south of Istanbul in Turkey, after a passenger suffered a medical incident, Hebrew-language media reported.
A doctor who was on Flight LY5102 from Warsaw (WAW) to Israel decided an immediate landing was required.
The passengers were told to expect a delay of several hours on the ground in Antalya, a city on the northern coast of the eastern Mediterranean, north of Cyprus. But passengers have been prohibited from leaving the plane.
Moreover, the plane is reportedly also short on fuel, but airport employees have refused refuel the aircraft, further extending the already delayed departure.
The originally scheduled arrival time has been delayed by several hours as a result.
Since Hamas launched the October 7th war against Israel last fall, all direct flights have been canceled between Israel and Turkey and relations have grown frigid. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has likened Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler.
Erdogan and the Turkish government have also accused the Jewish State of carrying out a “genocide” in its battle against the Hamas terrorists in Gaza who have pledged to repeat the October 7th massacre until they have succeeded in annihilating Israel and its Jews.
At the end, it was decided the plane would fly to Cyprus for refueling, before heading to Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv.
