Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the attacks in Istanbul on Sunday.

"Israel condemns any terror in Turkey and expects Turkey to condemn any terror attack in Israel," Netanyahu said at the start of his weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.

"In the struggle against terrorism, there has to be mutuality in condemnation as well as in thwarting the attacks, and that is Israel's expectation from all countries it has relations with," he said.

Two bombs blasted in central Istanbul on Saturday, at least 38 dead and 155 others injured, according to official figures.

During the cabinet meeting, Netanyahu told his ministers that the new Turkish ambassador arrived in Israel on Saturday, the first official envoy in six years.

The move came after Israel sent its ambassador to Ankara, as part of a reconciliation agreement signed between Israel and Turkey in June. The deal ended six years of tensions over the fatal Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound Turkish flotilla in 2010.

source: Xinhua