An armed Palestinian man held two hostages at the Turkish embassy in Tel Aviv on Tuesday, threatening to "kill any Jews" and demanding political asylum before he was shot by security guards.

Nadim Injaz, a resident of the West Bank city of Ramallah, threatened to blow up the building if he was not allowed to leave Israel, according to a recording played on Israeli radio.

In a call to Channel 2 TV, a man the station identified as the attacker said: "If they don't let me leave this country now I will burn down the whole building. I will burn everything."

He said he was demanding asylum in Turkey and protection from "these murderers the Zionists, the murdering Jews". At the same time, he said that Palestinian leaders, including Mahmoud Abbas, "should die."

He was later shot and wounded by security guards at the embassy, Turkish officials said.

A lawyer told Israel Radio that the hostages, the consul and his wife, had escaped. It was not clear whether they escaped before or after the man was shot.

Mr Injaz has claimed that he used to work as a collaborator with the Shin Bet Israeli intelligence agency. He sought asylum at the British embassy in Tel Avivi in 2006.

Israeli officials have denied his story.

Israeli police said Mr Injaz was recently released from prison after serving time for his previous embassy attack. They said at that time that he was an informer and a criminal with a record of property and drug offenses who had encountered financial and legal troubles.

The incident appears not to be related to the recent tension between Israel and Turkey following the May 31 Israeli naval commando raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in which 9 Turkish activists were killed.

Mr Injaz told Israeli reporters over recent days that he had been asked by the Israelis a number of years ago to assassinate Marwan Barghouti, a prominent Palestinian activist who headed the Fatah Tanzim organisation.

He has claimed that the Israelis tried to kill him after he refused to assassinate Barghouti.

Mr Injaz is currently in Israel without a visa and he has said he fears for his life if he is deported to the West Bank by Israel.

Israeli foreign ministry officials were in contact with Turkish embassy staff on Tuesday night in an effort to end the affair. Israeli anti-terror units were also positioned outside the embassy building, and police sealed off the area.