International incidents The Ma'alot massacre[1] was a Palestinian terrorist attack that occurred on 14–15 May 1974 and involved the hostage-taking of 115 Israelis, chiefly school children, which ended in the murder of 25 hostages and six other civilians.

[3] From there, they headed for the Netiv Meir Elementary School in Ma'alot, where in the early hours of 15 May 1974 they took hostage more than 115 people including 105 children.

Most of the hostages were 14- to 16-years-old students[4] from a high school in Safad on a pre-military Gadna field trip spending the night in Ma'alot.

Ma'alot, located on a plateau in the hills of the Galilee region of Israel, 6 miles (9.7 km) south of the Lebanese border,[5] is a development town founded in 1957 by Jewish immigrants, mainly from Morocco and Tunisia.

The attack was carried out by three members of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) dressed in Israel Defense Forces uniforms.

Allegedly one of the parents of the slain teenagers had begged the headmaster to cancel the trip after learning that militants had entered the area.

[citation needed] At 10am 27-year-old Sylvan Zerach, at home on leave from the army, stood near the base of the tall concrete water tower not far from the school building to get a closer view of what was going on.

[citation needed] At an emergency session of the Knesset, a decision was reached to negotiate, but the hostage-takers turned down a request for more time.

The assault force was divided into three units; two to break in from the entrance while a third was to climb a ladder and enter from a window facing north.

The first three-man team, led by Yuval Galili of Kibbutz Geva, was hit by gunfire on the stairs leading to the second floor.

The smoke from the explosion blinded the second team led by Amiran Levine, which had been ordered to take out Linou, at that time posted at the third floor window where he had shot Zerach.

Rahim was shot dead but Linou managed to reach the classroom, grab several magazines from the teacher's desk and reload his weapon.

According to a BBC report, the bombing inflicted damage in seven Palestinian refugee camps and villages in southern Lebanon killing at least 27 people and leaving 138 injured.

[12][13] Amos Horev, President of Haifa's Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, headed a Commission of Inquiry in May 1975 that investigated the massacre.

A memorial corner in the library of the Netiv Meir school displays photographs of the victims and archival footage on the massacre.