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In a dramatic confrontation outside the tower housing the Israeli consulate in Istanbul, one assailant was killed and two others were injured during a prolonged gunfight with police on Tuesday.
Video footage captured the tense scene as the attackers, armed with automatic rifles and handguns, engaged in a fierce exchange of gunfire with police. Officers were seen taking cover and returning fire as they navigated the area cluttered with white police buses near a checkpoint. One of the attackers lay motionless on the street.
The sound of gunshots reverberated for over ten minutes amid the skyscrapers of Türkiye’s primary financial district, according to Reuters witnesses. At one point, a person was observed bleeding.
Fortunately, no Israeli personnel were present at the consulate during the attack, which occupies a floor in one of the high-rise buildings, as confirmed by both Turkish and Israeli officials.
The absence of Israeli diplomats was attributed to their evacuation from Türkiye shortly after the onset of the Hamas-Israel conflict in Gaza in late 2023. This war sparked significant pro-Palestinian demonstrations outside the consulate and throughout the country, leading to a notable deterioration in Turkish-Israeli diplomatic relations.
US envoy says consulate was the target
The three attackers had links to an organisation that “exploits religion”, Turkish interior minister Mustafa Çiftçi said, without giving any name. Two of them were brothers, and they had travelled in a rented car from the Turkish city of Izmit, he added.
While Turkish authorities did not say what motivated the attackers, Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Türkiye, said on X that it was an attack on the Israeli consulate and he condemned it.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan said the “heinous terrorist attack” would not dent Türkiye’s trust and security. Israel’s foreign ministry said it appreciated Turkish security forces’ “swift action in thwarting this attack”.
Two police officers were also lightly wounded, Istanbul governor Davut Gül told reporters at the scene of the midday incident, which occurred next to a major motorway as thousands of nearby workers were breaking for lunch.
Diplomatic chill amid Gaza war
Türkiye, a fierce critic of Israel’s military operations in Gaza as well as in Lebanon and Iran, had recalled its ambassador from Israel in November 2023, and diplomatic relations have been effectively frozen since then.
At the same time that year, Israeli diplomats left Türkiye due to security concerns, including the protests. Since then, heavily armed police and armoured vehicles have been stationed in a broad area surrounding the consulate.
Militant violence has mostly subsided in Türkiye in recent years after a violent spate from 2015 to 2016 when Islamic, Kurdish and leftist militants carried out attacks amid the spillover from the Syrian civil war.
The latest incident was late last year when three Turkish police officers and six Islamic State militants were killed in a gunfight in the town of Yalova in north-west Türkiye, amid raids on militant cells believed to be planning Christmas and New Year attacks.
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