A shootout with police outside the Israeli consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, left one attacker dead, two others injured and two police officers suffering minor injuries.
The armed attackers had links to an activist group that “exploits religion”, according to the Interior Minister. Mustafa Ciftci on X.
“The identity of the terrorists has been identified,” he wrote in a message translated by
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A plainclothes police officer holds a gun after gunfire was reported near the building housing the Israeli consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, on April 7, 2026. (Murad Sezer/Reuters)
US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack condemned the attack and praised Turkish authorities.
“The United States condemns in the strongest terms today’s attack on the Israeli consulate in Istanbul,” Barrack wrote on
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Police officers pulled out weapons and took cover as shooting continued for at least 10 minutes at a permanent security checkpoint at the Israeli consulate in Istanbul. One person was seen covered in blood among the glass towers in the heart of the city’s main financial district.
Footage obtained by Reuters showed an apparent attacker, wearing a dark top and carrying a backpack, moving between parked white police and security buses and firing with an automatic rifle and a pistol.
Two bodies lay in nearby streets and parking lots, near lawns.
Turkish Police Special Forces stand guard at the Israeli Consulate building in Istanbul, Turkey, after gunfire was reported on April 7, 2026. (Umit Bektas/Reuters)
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Two police officers were slightly injured in the attack, Istanbul Governor Davut Gul told reporters at the scene.
He said there had been no Israeli diplomatic staff at the consulate for 2.5 years, since the start of the war between Hamas and Israel in 2023, leading to a deep chill in Turkish-Israeli diplomatic ties.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry confirmed that there were no staff at the consulate at the time of the shooting.
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The incident took place just after noon next to a major highway, right outside the tower where the Israeli consulate is located. The gunfire echoed in the bank’s nearby headquarters, where thousands of workers were having lunch.
Turkey, a fierce critic of Israel’s military operations in Gaza, had recalled its ambassador from Israel in November 2023 and diplomatic relations have been effectively frozen since then.
Turkish police special forces walk near the building housing the Israeli consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, after gunfire was heard on April 7, 2026. (Murad Sezer/Reuters)
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At the same time that year, Israeli diplomats left Turkey over security concerns after pro-Palestinian protests broke out across the country and in front of the consulate. Since then, there has been a heavily armed police presence near the consulate.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
