Turkey arrests six people with spying for Israel’s Mossad

Turkish authorities have arrested six people and charged them with spying for Israel’s Mossad intelligence service, Turkey’s intelligence agency (MIT) said on Friday.

On Tuesday, MIT had said police detained seven people, including a private detective, for selling information to Mossad. It said on Friday that six of them had been arrested, and one had been released on bail.

A Turkish court in January ordered the arrest of 15 people and the deportation of eight others suspected of having links to Mossad and targeting Palestinians living in Turkey. Last month, Turkey detained seven others suspected of selling information to Mossad.

Turkish and Israeli leaders have traded public barbs since Israel’s war with the Palestinian militant group Hamas began last October. Turkey has warned Israel of “serious consequences” if it tries to hunt down Hamas members living outside the Palestinian territories, including in Turkey.