An assailant on Thursday took an undisclosed number of people hostage at a plant owned by the US giant Procter & Gamble near Istanbul in protest of the Israeli assault in Gaza, a police spokesman said.

       It was not immediately clear how many people were being held at the plant, which lies on the eastern outskirts of Turkiye’s largest city, the spokesman told AFP.

       Images from the scenes showed police setting up a cordon around the sprawling plant, which primarily manufactures cosmetics.

       Special operation forces and medical personnel were dispatched to the scene, private DHA news agency reported.

       Meanwhile, Demiroren News Agency reported that an unidentified man carrying a gun entered the factory in Gebze industrial zone in Kocaeli province around 3 pm (1200 GMT).

       The health ministry in Gaza said today that at least 27,019 people have been killed in nearly four months of the conflict.

       A ministry statement said some 66,139 people have been wounded in Gaza since the conflict broke out on October 7 in response to Hamas’ attack on southern Israel.