Bursts into the Turkish embassy and shoots
Killed a Palestinian in Tel Aviv

The man tried to break into the embassy naked. Originally from Ramallah, in the West Bank, he barricaded himself in an office with two people

TEL AVIV – Hours of fear in Tel Aviv, where a man barricaded himself in the Turkish embassy taking two hostages. According to the Turkish state agency Anatolia, it would have been stopped by the security of the diplomatic headquarters. Israeli agents killed him when he approached a window.

The man would phone the Israeli daily Maariv, identifying himself as Nadim Injaz and explaining that he had already tried to seek asylum at the British embassy four years ago; even then, according to the Israeli press, he had barricaded himself inside the building with a toy gun before being immobilized by the police.

Injaz also claimed to have flammable liquid with him and wanted to burn the building if he was not granted asylum, in addition to asking to be flown to Turkey. Other witnesses then talk about a person shot by a shot fired from the embassy’s second floor: according to Israeli emergency services – which were not allowed to enter the diplomatic office – there would be a slight casualty.

Relations between the former allies Israel and Turkey cooled after Ankara’s criticism of the Gaza offensive and the Israeli assault on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara that had attempted to force the blockade around the Strip.

(17 August 2010)