BICOM

Three Israelis were killed in a suicide bomb attack in a major shopping area of Istanbul on Saturday. Their bodies were transported to Israel yesterday, while several injured Israelis also returned home.

60-year-old Simha Dimri, 40-year-old Yonatan Suher and 69-year-old Avraham Goldman were all on an organised culinary tour in Turkey. The group was in a popular shopping district, Istikal Street, when the suicide bomber struck. An Iranian citizen was also killed and dozens were injured. The Director General of Israel’s Foreign Ministry Dore Gold travelled to Turkey to accompany the bodies back to Israel, which were transported on an IAF Hercules plane yesterday.

The terrorist was identified yesterday by Turkey’s Interior Minister Efkan Ala as 22-year-old Mehmet Ozturk, who Ala said “is a member of Daesh [ISIS].” However, Israeli authorities do not believe that Ozturk specifically targeted tourists from Israel. Turkey has been hit by several major bombings this year, including a similar suicide attack which killed German tourists in Istanbul in January.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that “Israel is at the forefront of the fight against global terrorism.” He added that “the murder of innocents, has no justification anywhere – not in Istanbul or the Ivory Coast or Jerusalem. Whoever does not condemn terrorism, supports terrorism.”

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter to Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin, expressing “deepest condolences to the Israeli people and the families that lost their loved ones.” He said that the “cruel attack proved again that the international community must unite in its struggle against terrorism that threatens all of mankind.”

Although there have been no official diplomatic ties between Israel and Turkey for the past six years, Israeli tourists continue to visit Turkey in numbers: over 200,000 Israeli tourists have visited Turkey in 2015. The two countries are currently in talks to normalize relations, which were suspended after the deaths of ten Turkish citizens who were killed whilst trying to prevent Israeli commandos taking over a Gaza-bound protest ship in 2010.