The Terror Attack: Eyewitness Report

The staccato of automatic gunfire abruptly ended a quiet evening this correspondent was spending with friends in their flat near the Tel Aviv beachfront last night. Our first thought was that it must be a gang war–Chicago style. The extortion racket flourishes in this once fashionable neighborhood now the locale of sleazy nightclubs and discotheques where rival gangs frequently “shoot it out.”

But heavy explosions–grenades or bazooka shells–that rattled windows and shock showers of plaster from walls and ceilings told us immediately that these were gangsters of a different, deadlier sort. As we were to learn very quickly, we were near the front line of an El Fatah terrorist attack on Israel’s largest city something that heretofore has occurred only in outlying border villages like Kiryat Shemona and Maalot.

Less than 200 yards away, on Geula Street, near the beach, eight heavily armed terrorists who had landed in the dead of night from rubber boats were firing wildly in all directions and hurling grenades. Police were returning the fire. Of course, we didn’t know the details immediately. We first heard the gunfire shortly after 11 p.m. My host tried to call the police but the lines were busy.

As bullets whistled past and sirens wailed, we, and other tenants of the building made our way to shelters. An official police communique broadcast by radio told us that terrorists were holed up in the Savoy Hotel on Geula Street, Just around the corner.

NIGHTMARISH SPECTACLE

When I went into the street, I saw a night-marish spectacle. Red tracer bullets streaked through the night air. The four-story Savoy Hotel, illuminated by floodlights, was surrounded by troops, local police and border police in full battle regalia. Military vehicles, armored cars and personnel carriers clogged the surrounding streets. Red Mogen David ambulance crews were administering first aid to wounded civilians on the sidewalks and gutters. Looking out to sea, the blinding light of magnesium flares revealed naval patrol boats cruising just off the beach.

The entire neighborhood was cordoned off but hundreds of people pressed against police barriers to watch what was transpiring. Sara Najaj, 21, who was being treated for a bullet wound in the leg, had just been married in a small wedding hall next to the Savoy Hotel. The sound of gunfire sent her, her groom and guests into the streets.

She said that her husband, a reserve paratrooper raced off to join a police unit firing at the terrorists. “I screamed at him and ran after him. The next thing I knew I was struck by something. I fell and kept shouting,” Mrs., Najaj said. “My husband was ahead of me. He saw me fall and came back. He picked me up and carried me to an ambulance. I haven’t seen him since.” She added: “This is a night I won’t forget. At least it happened after we were married.

OTHER VOICES, OTHER WORDS

Harold Adams, a Californian who said he was a veteran of the Vietnam war, said he was just emerging from the Cinema One movie house across the street from the Savoy when he saw terrorists firing weapons. “I saw two guerrillas firing wildly with semi-automatic rifles.” He also saw other terrorists throwing grenades from the hotel roof. “Luckily, no one I saw was hit, although there were people around the cinema and coming from a wedding party,” Adams said.

Terrorist attacks all seem to follow a similar pattern. After the initial gun battles, the terrorists, if they survive, seize hostages and try to bargain for their lives. This went on at the Savoy Hotel during the wee hours of the morning. Kochava Levi, an Israeli woman taken hostage, was chosen by the terrorists to convey their demands to the authorities because she spoke Arabic.

From a top floor window of the hotel she called out: “Do you hear me? I am being held hostage with others. The terrorists demand that you bring over the French or Japanese Ambassadors. The French would do. They want you to prepare a UN plane to take them and 20 prisoners, including Msgr. Capucci and the hostages to Damascus. Otherwise, they threaten to blow us all up.” She said the terrorists’ deadline was 7 a.m.

Another female voice was heard, speaking in German: “My name is Maria Rot, I am from Switzerland. I am with my friend here. We are well.” Shortly afterwards, Miss Levi returned to the window. She said that a tourist from Germany was seriously injured and the terrorists would allow him to be evacuated.

Stretcher-bearers approached the hotel. Eventually the injured German appeared, helped down stairs by Miss Levi. He was put into an ambulance and rushed to a hospital.

RESCUE WORKERS DIG FRANTICALLY

At the first light of dawn, Israeli soldiers were ordered to storm the hotel. They approached silently and unobserved. As they reached the upper floors of the building the terrorists detonated a huge explosion. When the smoke cleared, the two upper floors of the hotel were demolished. Miss Levi escaped unhurt. But the other hostages and terrorists were believed dead. Rescue workers dug frantically through the ruins, finding nine dead bodies and about 23 wounded. But booby-traps continued to explode, hindering the rescue operations.

By mid-morning, police were still combing the ruins and searching adjacent buildings. Defense Minister Shimon Peres, who had been on the scene almost from the start, announced that all the terrorists were dead. But he was wrong.

At about noon, shots were fired from the ruined building. Mullah Cohen, the Civil Defense commander for Tel Aviv, spotted a terrorist trying to escape. He ran after the man who bit his hand as he tried to grab him. Police, however, quickly subdued the escapee who was rushed from the scene under heavy guard. He told police there were eight in his gang, all El Fatah members. As security forces returned to the hotel, more shots rang out and four persons were wounded. The eighth terrorist was found and killed on the spot.