Serbian broadcaster B92 quoted Dacic as saying that the attacker approached a small building in front of the Israeli embassy around 11 a.m. and asked about the museum.
He then opened the door to a small building, removed the crossbow and shot the officer, Dacic said. The officer returned fire, and the assailant died about 30 minutes later.
Serbian authorities told AFP the gunman was born in 1999 in the town of Mladenovac, about 30 miles from the capital.
They later said he moved to Novi Pazar, the cultural center of Bosnia's Muslim minority, and converted to Islam.
Mr Dacic said the case had been taken over by special prosecutors and several others had also been arrested as a precautionary measure.
The interior minister said the attack may have been part of a larger threat, but Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic called it a “personal crime.”
He described the incident as “an act of insanity that cannot be attributed to any religion or nation,” according to Beta news agency.
Both the Prime Minister and the Home Minister described the incident as an 'act of terrorism'.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said the embassy was closed at the time of the incident and that no staff were injured.
The incident in Belgrade is not the first time someone has attempted to attack an Israeli embassy since Hamas launched an unprecedented offensive in southern Israel on October 7, triggering an Israeli campaign to destroy Hamas.
