Israel tells citizens to get out of Turkey as soon as possible

Israel has issued a new travel warning asking its citizens to leave Turkey as soon as they can. The Counter-Terrorism Bureau at the Prime Minister's Office has also advised the public to avoid visiting Turkey.

The travel warning came after the country raised the terror risk alert in Turkey from level 3 which is a basic concrete threat to level 2 which is a high concrete threat. The revision in the alert took effect following the terror attack in central Istanbul on 19 March in which three Israelis were killed and several others wounded.

The Prime Minister's Office statement said that the Istanbul attack underscored the threat emanating from Isis cells that seek to attack tourism sites and it showed that the Islamic militants have "high capabilities of carrying out further attacks."

"Terrorist infrastructures in Turkey continue to advance additional attacks against tourist targets - including Israeli tourists - throughout the country," the statement said. On 26 March, Turkey police had warned of possible Isis attacks against both Christians and Jews.

The Times of Israel said that Israel has not said specifically that the Istanbul blast had deliberately targeted Israelis. It had however praised Turkey for its handling of the aftermath of the bombing. The four killed in the attacks were Yonathan Suer, 40, Simha Dimri, 59 and Avraham Goldman, 69. Both Suher and Goldman were also US citizens.

Sky News has reported that Isis militants are plotting an "imminent" attack on Jewish schoolchildren in Turkey. Information obtained by intelligence officers from six Isis operatives arrested in the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep over the past week revealed that they were targeting kindergartens, schools and youth centres.