In a prolonged shootout with law enforcement outside the tower housing the Israeli consulate in Istanbul, one assailant was fatally shot, and two others sustained injuries on Tuesday.

Video footage captured the attackers, equipped with backpacks, as they exchanged fire with police using automatic rifles and handguns. Officers returned fire while seeking cover, navigating between parked police buses near a security checkpoint. A body could be seen lying on the street amid the chaos.

The gunfire, echoing for a solid ten minutes among the skyscrapers of Türkiye’s primary financial hub, left one individual visibly injured. Witnesses from Reuters reported seeing a person covered in blood.

At the time of the incident, the consulate, located on one of the tower’s floors, was unoccupied by Israeli staff, as confirmed by both Turkish and Israeli officials.

Following the eruption of the Hamas-Israel conflict in Gaza in late 2023, Israeli diplomats had exited Türkiye. This conflict spurred significant pro-Palestinian demonstrations outside the consulate and throughout the country, further straining Turkish-Israeli diplomatic relations.

US envoy says consulate was the target

According to Turkish Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi, the three attackers were linked to a group that “exploits religion,” although he did not specify the name. He revealed that two of the attackers were siblings who had traveled from Izmit, Türkiye, in a rented vehicle.

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 Erdoğan 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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