In the wake of Tuesday evening’s incident in Turkey’s embassy in Tel Aviv, the Turkish daily Hurriyet reported on Wednesday that Turkish diplomatic sources have asked Israel to increase security at the embassy.
A Turkish diplomatic source was quoted in Hurriyet as saying: “We have asked Israel to increase the level of security of our embassy building. This incident has proven that there is a security weakness. The results of Tuesday’s attack would have been worse if our security personnel had not been able to act in time.”
Tuesday’s incident occurred when Nadim Injaz, an Arab from Ramallah who in the past had attempted to take hostages in the British embassy in Tel Aviv, entered the Turkish embassy with a gun (later found to be a toy) and attempted to take embassy workers hostage. He was shot by embassy personnel.
Reporters from Turkish TV channel "TRT – Turk", who were inside the embassy after the incident, had reported that embassy staff said Injaz had entered the building by climbing through a second floor window. This area is reportedly a blind spot for building security, which made it easier for Injaz to infiltrate the property.
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. 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.
Sources said that Injaz 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.
On Wednesday, Injaz’s remand was extended by a week. In its decision, the Tel Aviv civil court said that the remand was extended because the investigation was likely to be lengthy and complicated.
Hurriyet also reported that on the same day as the incident in the Tel Aviv embassy, a court ruling in Ankara called on security measures that were implemented for the Israeli Embassy there to be reduced. A set of barriers in front of the embassy was removed. The reason cited in the court decision to reduce security measures was that the barriers caused transportation problems for local citizens.