Turkish Embassy pic
Turkish Embassy picfile

A Palestinian Authority man was shot and injured on Tuesday evening after he entered the Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv and attempted to take embassy workers hostage.

Large numbers of Israeli security officials converged on the embassy, located near the Hilton Hotel in a tony area of Tel Aviv, after witnesses said they heard shots inside the building. 

The culprit was identified as Nadim Injaz, an Arab from Ramallah who in the past had attempted to take hostages in the British embassy in Tel Aviv, using a fake gun. The man is known to Israeli authorities and is considered mentally deranged. The gun he was carrying in Tuesday's incident was also discovered to be fake. Turkish officials said that Injaz had been seeking asylum in Turkey, after Israel turned down his request for a work visa. Injaz was shot by embassy personnel, a spokesperson in Ankara said, when he tried to grab a worker in the embassy and hold him hostage. The Turkish ambassador is currently not in Israel, the spokesperson said, and the matter was being handled by his deputy.

Israeli medical and security officials were at first not allowed into the building by the Turkish staff, who insisted that the embassy was Turkish soil, and off-limits to the Israelis. A Magen David Adom crew outside the building said they had heard additional shots inside the building after the initial shooting, and some sources said that a hostage situation was in progress. The chief consular official in the embassy was said to be speaking to the man. About an hour after the shooting, Magen David Adom workers were allowed into the building, and said that the victim was in moderate condition. He was later evacuated to Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv.

According to the sources, the Arab insisted that Turkey protect him from Palestinian Authority forces, who he claimed were seeking to arrest him because he said he at one time worked with Israeli law enforcement authorities. An Israeli hostage negotiation team was on its way to the embassy as well.

Speaking to Arutz 7, a police spokesperson confirmed that shots had been fired inside the embassy, and as a result, it was classified as a diplomatic incident.