Kiryat Shmona massacre
Kiryat Shmona massacre | |
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Part of PFLP-GC claimed responsibility | |
No. of participants | 3 |
The Kiryat Shmona massacre
Attack
Kiryat Shmona is a small Israeli village near the Israel-Lebanon border.
The attackers killed a number of residents at the apartment building before moving to the building next door. They first killed the building's gardener before climbing the staircase and shooting those they encountered. The three gunmen then barricaded themselves in an apartment on the top floor. In the exchange of gunfire with responding Israeli soldiers, the attackers' backpack of explosives was detonated, killing the three attackers.[3]
According to Israeli police, the attacks were equipped with rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and threw children from the top floor of the building.[2]
Eighteen people were killed, 8 of them children. Two of the slain Israelis were soldiers, and the rest were civilians.[3][1][4] and 16 were wounded.[2]
A splinter Palestinian group claimed credit for what it called a "suicide attack" via a telephone statement to the media. The group claimed the goal of the attack was the release of 100 fighters from Israeli prisons.[2]
Reactions
Israeli Foreign Minister
The
Aftermath
About 40% of the town's residents left after the massacre.[5] On 13 April, Israeli forces carried out retaliatory raids in Lebanon, hours after the victims were buried.[6] Only after Israel's reprisal raid in southern Lebanon did France simultaneously condemn the massacre.[1]
More attacks on northern Israel followed by Palestinian militants, including the
According to The Times of Israel, by 2014, 50 years after the attack, it had largely faded from Israeli consciousness. That year, Lisa Peretz, Robby Elmaliah and Ilanit Baumann premiered their film "A Haunted Home" about the events and the lasting trauma on residents of Kiryat Shmona at the Jerusalem Film Festival.[3] According to survivors interviewed by the filmmakers, the apparent lack of interest in preserving the memory of the incident is because the victims were mostly poor Mizrahi Jews who lived in an out-of-the-way location. Another reason was that survivors were too traumatized to speak publicly about the events.[5]
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e "Massacre of 18 in Kiryat Shemona Continues to Provoke Indignation". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 18 April 1974. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
- ^ a b c d e "Arab terrorists slay 18 in raid on Israel". Virgin Islands Daily. Associated Press. 13 April 1974.
- ^ Times of Israel. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
- ISBN 9781107089860.
- ^ Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 16 February 2024.
- LA Times. 13 April 1974. Archived from the originalon 7 November 2012. Retrieved 16 February 2024.