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Seven workers taken hostage by a pro-Palestinian gunman at a plant near Istanbul owned by US consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble were released by Turkish police on Thursday evening.
The police raid took place almost nine hours into the standoff when the lone gunman went to the bathroom, local officials said.
The man, who was staging a protest against the war in Gaza, was detained unharmed, local Governor Seddar Yavuz told reporters.
"The man's aim was to stop Israel's massacre in Gaza and to open the Rafah gate in Egypt" for the delivery of humanitarian aid for trapped civilians, Mr Yavuz said.
"When he went out for a bathroom break, our security forces carried out an operation without harming the hostages."
Photos and videos of the assailant shared earlier online by one of the hostages and verified by AFP showed a man, with his face hidden by a Palestinian scarf, holding a gun.
He had what appeared to be a suicide vest strapped to his chest.
The man was standing next to a drawing of the Palestinian flag and the words "The door will be opened for Gaza" painted on the wall in red.
Haberturk TV earlier said police had established contact with the captor and were trying to negotiate the hostages' release.
"Earlier today, we evacuated our Gebze facility and are working with local authorities to resolve an urgent security situation," P&G said in a statement released to AFP.
100 days of Israel Gaza war - in pictures
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Palestinian Muhammad Al Durra with his children in the ruins of a house in Rafah where they sheltered on January 11, 2024. EPA -
Family and friends at the funerals of journalists Hamza Al Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuraya on January 7, 2024 in Rafah, Gaza. Getty Images -
Palestinians mourn relatives killed by Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip outside a mortuary in Khan Younis January 4, 2024. AP Photo -
Displaced Palestinians queue to bake bread at a camp in the Muwasi area of Rafah, Gaza Strip, on December 23, 2023. AP Photo -
Palestinians queue for food in Rafah, the Gaza Strip, on December 20, 2023. AP Photo -
The ruins of Rafah on December 14, 2023. AFP -
Palestinians wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip arrive at a hospital in Khan Younis on December 8, 2023. AP Photo -
Palestinians flee Israeli bombing along the Salaheddine Road in the Zeitoun district of Gaza city on November 28, 2023. AFP -
A Red Cross vehicle takes Israeli hostages from the Gaza Strip into Egypt in Rafah on November 25, 2023. AP -
The ruins of buildings in Gaza city on November 24, 2023, as a temporary truce between Israel and Hamas took effect. AP Photo -
A woman and her cat return home to eastern Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip during the first hours of a four-day truce between Israel and Hamas forces on November 24, 2023. AFP -
Mourning the dead of Israeli bombardment outside the mortuary at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on November 14, 2023. AFP -
Civilians and rescuers look for survivors in the rubble of a building after Israeli bombing of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on November 12, 2023. AFP -
November 7, 2023, a month to the day after Hamas attacked Israel, a victim of an Israeli bombardment in Rafah is moved from the rubble. AFP -
Searching the rubble after Israeli air strikes on the town of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on October 26, 2023. AP Photo -
Mourning the Kotz family at their funeral in Gan Yavne, Israel, on October 17, 2023. AP Photo -
An Israeli firefighter composes himself after he and his colleagues extinguished cars set on fire by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip in Ashkelon, Israel, on October 9, 2023. AP Photo -
Palestinians with the wreckage of an Israeli tank at the Gaza Strip fence east of the city of Khan Younis on October 7, 2023, the day Hamas forces swept unopposed into Israel. AP Photo -
Israeli police officers evacuate a woman and a child from a site hit by a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, southern Israel, on October 7, 2023. AP Photo
Relatives of the hostages questioned why the assailant would aim for workers in Turkey, which is strongly supportive of the Palestinian cause, to show his solidarity with the people of Gaza.
"He supposedly does this for Islam but they are the ones who harm Islam the most," Sedat Degirmenci, whose son-in-law was taken hostage, told AFP.
Cigdem Aydemir, the mother of a 26-year-old woman taken hostage at the plant, said: "If you do this for Palestine, go and fight there."
Like other relatives, Ms Aydemir was following the hostage-taker's Instagram account for updates on the situation.
The account became inaccessible by Thursday evening.
"What does my daughter have to do with this?" said Ms Aydemir. "I can only pray."
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has emerged as one of the Muslim world's harshest critics of Israel because of the civilian death toll from its campaign against Hamas militants.
He has called Israel a "terrorist state" and compared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler.
Mr Erdogan has also accused the US of supporting "genocide" in Gaza.
His comments reflect anger across the mainly Muslim – but officially secular – country at the US for its support for Israel.
Hundreds of protesters stormed a south-eastern Turkish air base used by US and British forces on the eve of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to Ankara in November.
Turkish online campaigns are also trying to organise boycotts of US products such as Coca-Cola and Starbucks.
