Authorities in Türkiye announced the arrest of seven people on Friday alleged to have been operating as spies for Mossad, the Israeli state intelligence service.

According to the state-run media platform Anadolu, which was the first outlet to announce news of the arrests, “an investigation carried out by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office revealed that nine suspects sold the information to Mossad through private detectives.”  Anadolu went on to report that “The Israeli intelligence service carries out activities such as collecting biographical information, reconnaissance, investigation, photo-video documentation, live tracking, and placing tracking devices against its targets.”

In January, Turkish authorities detained 15 suspects on similar charges. At the time, Turkish Justice Minister Yerlikaya said that those suspects were working with the Israeli Intelligence Service to “discover, assault, kidnap” foreign nationals residing in Turkey.”

The ongoing war in Gaza and Israel led to a nadir in relations between Türkiye and Israel after years of efforts to rebuild ties.

The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for his part, criticized Israel’s conduct during the war in Gaza while speaking at a World’s Human Rights Day event in late 2023. Then, in December, a leaked recording published by Israeli media outlets indicated that Israel’s spy chief had approved the elimination of Hamas fighters “in every location” in the world, including Qatar, Turkey, and Lebanon.”

In the immediate aftermath of Hamas’ deadly October 7 attack on Israel, Erdogan further strained relations with Israel by declaring that “Hamas is not a terrorist organization.”