Maalot massacre
The Maalot massacre was a school massacre in Maalot, Israel, that occurred on May 15, 1974.
On this date, which corresponds with the 26th anniversary of Israeli independence, Palestinian terrorists broke into the high school in Maalot, a community in northern Israel. The terrorists immediately killed a security guard and some of the students, the remaining students and teachers were held as hostages.
In the morning, the men were identified as members of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine who had infiltrated into Israel from Lebanon. They presented their demands: release Arab militants from Israeli prisons, or they would kill the students. The deadline was set at 6:00 p.m. the same day.
The Knesset, the Israeli parliament, met in an emergency session, and by 3:00 p.m. a decision was reached to negotiate, but the terrorists refused a request for more time.
At 5:45 p.m., a unit of the elite Golani Brigade stormed the building. All of the DFLP members were killed in the assault, but not before they used firearms and explosives to kill 21 students that afternoon. All told, 26 people were killed and 66 wounded (not including the terrorists), including several people killed by the terrorists on their way to the school the night before.
