The three Israeli soldiers killed storming the Savoy Hotel before dawn were identified in an army communique released late this afternoon. They are Sgt. Itamar Ben David, 19, of Kfar Yehezkel; Pvt. Moshe Deutchman, 20, of Tel Aviv; and Col. Uzzi Ya’Yiri, 39, of Ramat Hasharon. Only one civilian fatality was immediately identified, Max Halperin, 63, of Tel Aviv. Eleven persons were wounded in the hotel, five of them soldiers, the army communique said.
The casualties apparently occurred when eight terrorists barricaded in the building, touched off explosive charges that demolished the two top floors. Col. Ya’Yiri, a veteran of the Yom Kippur War who fought on the Sinal front, left a wife and five children. He was not on duty at the time of the terrorist assault but volunteered for the unit ordered to storm the building. The sole surviving terrorist is under interrogation.
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