Dozens crushed to death at Jewish festival in Israel

At least 38 people were killed and many more injured in a stampede at the grave of a Jewish sage in northern Israel, according to rescue services and local media.

The Israeli army was assisting civilian rescue workers at the “mass casualty event”. Footage from the scene at Mount Meron showed that part of the stadium where ultra-Orthodox worshippers had been celebrating the festival of Lag B’omer had collapsed.

Separate reports said overcrowding had led to a stampede, citing survivors. A spokesperson for Israel’s ambulance services told Ynet News that most of the deaths were caused by severe overcrowding.

“We thought maybe there was a [bomb] alert over a suspicious package. No one imagined that this could happen here,” a pilgrim told a local news channel.

Tens of thousands of devout Jews had gathered at the grave of 2nd-century sage Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai for the Lag B’omer festival, which traditionally involves a night of prayer, dance and bonfires.

Last year’s event was curtailed because of Covid-19 restrictions. This year, as tens of thousands headed to the pilgrimage, authorities tried to limit the number of bonfires before warning that the risk from coronavirus was quickly becoming too great to manage.

Israel’s ultra-Orthodox minority forms a crucial backbone of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition. Amir Ohana, public security minister, visited the site before the accident, wishing the crowds a happy holiday and thanking the police for assisting in the pilgrimage, the Associated Press reported. Netanyahu called the incident a “heavy disaster”.

At least 100,000 people were expected at the site earlier in the evening, making it the largest public gathering in Israel since a mass vaccination campaign enabled the country’s reopening. Media reports said police had already turned people away from the site before the accident.

About 5,000 police officers were deployed to enforce coronavirus restrictions at the mystic’s tomb after health officials warned that the event could be a coronavirus hazard.

Scuffles broke out earlier in the evening between the police and the ultra-Orthodox attendees as authorities tried to enforce a green passport system to separate the vaccinated from the unvaccinated, according to videos on social media.

Helicopters evacuated the injured to local hospitals, where television news channels showed tents being set up to treat the wounded.

Witnesses reported a huge crush of people in which attendees were asphyxiated.

A rescue worker told a local radio station that attempts to save those trampled in the throng were hindered by debris, and warned that more victims could be buried underneath.