The passenger terminal at Incirlik Air Base near Adana, Turkey. A Turkish activist is calling for large protests at the base this week over the U.S. stance on the Israel-Hamas war. (J.P. Lawrence/Stars and Stripes)

A prominent Turkish activist is calling for large protests this week at a major U.S. air base in southeastern Turkey, where an American strategic bomber landed Tuesday amid continuing tensions in the region over the war between Israel and Hamas.

Bulent Yildirim, the chairman of a relief organization with ties to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on Tuesday advocated for a march around Incirlik Air Base in connection with demands for a cease-fire in Gaza as Israel’s ground invasion gets underway.

Yildirim also urged Turkey’s parliament to vote on whether to shut down Incirlik and a small U.S. military outpost in Kurecik, where the Army operates a missile defense radar.

“We will march to Incirlik base from every part of Turkey, from every district and neighborhood. ... Let’s surround that Incirlik base,” he said at a news conference Tuesday, according to the state-run news agency Anadolu.

U.S. forces in Europe did not immediately say Wednesday whether security would be ramped up around the base.

Turkish media have reported that U.S. forces stationed at Incirlik have been restricted to base since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict last month.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Air Force carried out a muscle-flexing mission at the base, where B-1B Lancers performed the first-ever hot-pit refueling at Incirlik.

The term refers to a refueling done while the plane’s engines are running, allowing the aircraft to get back in the air faster.

“By honing hot-pit refueling procedures and leveraging the advantages it offers, the U.S. and its allies fortify their combat readiness across the European theater,” U.S. Air Forces Europe and Africa said in a statement Tuesday.

The mission also underscored the strong ties between the U.S. and Turkey, according to the statement. Still, if Turkish authorities follow through on threats to have thousands of protesters descend on the base, those ties could be tested.

The conflict in Gaza puts a spotlight on the U.S. military presence in Turkey, which Ankara in the past has tried to use as leverage in political disputes, sometimes threatening to kick out American forces.

The public call for protests at Incirlik, where the U.S. has long maintained a stockpile of nuclear weapons, is the latest sign of tensions between the two countries over the situation in Gaza.

On Saturday, Erdogan told tens of thousands of demonstrators in Istanbul that Turkey could involve itself in the conflict.

The war in Gaza has prompted the U.S. to deploy thousands of extra troops to the Middle East aimed at preventing a broader regional war.