Friends and relatives cry at funeral for Istanbul attack victim Simcha Damari in Dimona, I
Friends and relatives cry at funeral for Istanbul attack victim Simcha Damari in Dimona, IReuters

Israel has officially recognized the ISIS suicide bombing in Istanbul last month as a "hostile enemy act", enabling Israeli victims to claim compensation as victims of terror under Israeli law.

Immediately following the attack - in which three Israeli citizens and an Iranian tourist were killed, and scores more injured - the Israeli Defense Ministry opened an investigation to define the precise nature of the attack vis-a-vis compensation to victims.

The investigation concluded Tuesday, based on available evidence and interviews with relevant officials, that the attack did appear to have targeted Israelis directly. 

As a result, Senior Deputy Legal Adviser to the security services, Attorney Yedidya Oron, officially recognized the Istanbul attack as a hostile enemy act.

The decision means that victims and their families can now claim terror victims' compensation from the National Insurance Institute (Bituach Leumi).

Suspicions had been raised that the suicide bomber hadn't struck a group of Israeli tourists by chance, with some reports claiming he had followed them closely before blowing himself up. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, however, denied that Israelis, specifically, were the terrorist's intended target.