Two Children Killed, Ten Children and Five Adults Injured in Terrorist Attack on Beisan

Two Israeli school girls were killed and 10 children and five adults were injured in two rocket attacks launched at Beisan township this morning by Arab terrorists operating from Jordan. The first attack was 7:30 a.m. local time. The second attack at 9:30 a.m. The attacks were the second to hit Beisan since Monday morning when a nine year-old girl was killed on her way to school and five other children and three adults were wounded. Terrorist rockets were also fired this morning at Kibbutz Maoz Chaim in the Beisan Valley without causing casualties. Kiryat Shemona, near the Lebanese border, the target of two fatal rocket attacks last month, was hit by Katyusha rockets again last night but suffered no casualties.

The second attack on Beisan in two days to claim the lives of children was denounced by Foreign Minister Abba Eban today. “One of the factors which encourage the activities of the murder organizations such as El Fatah and the Palestine Liberation Organization is an impression of international apathy and indulgence,” Mr. Eban charged. “Every government or religious leader, every newspaper or public official who raises an unqualified and vehement voice against these outrages and those who perpetrate and support them will contribute to the struggle against the moral decadence in which children of Israel lose their lives and mankind loses its human dignity.” Mr. Eban declared.

The first rocket salvo to hit Beisan this morning instantly killed ten year-old Shula Levi and injured her eight year-old sister, Michal while they were on their way to school. Four other children and three adults were hospitalized for injuries. The second rocket attack, two hours later, struck the Tahkemoni school, a wooden structure that collapsed and caught fire trapping children and teachers inside. Rescuers found one girl dead and extricated four wounded children and two adults. Several nearby buildings were damaged in the attack. The name of the second child killed was not immediately disclosed. The attack on the Tahkemoni school occurred shortly after children and adults came out of shelters after an all clear was sounded following the earlier attack. A government official said in Jerusalem today that Israel does not intend to seek a Security Council meeting over the latest terrorist outrage. He told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, “In view of the composition of the Security Council, with its built-in hostile majority, we have no chance even to secure a condemnation of the murderers.”