44 killed in Israel pilgrimage stampede: rescue services

More than 100 people were injured, dozens critically, in a stampede at a Jewish religious gathering in northern Israel attended by tens of thousands of people, Israel’s main rescue service said early Friday.

Magen David Adom tweeted that it was treating 103 people, including 38 in critical condition.

A source at the northern Ziv hospital, one of several receiving casualties, later told AFP it had recorded at least six deaths, taking the overall toll to 44.

Israeli media had earlier reported that a grandstand collapsed, but the rescue service said all the injuries happened in a stampede.

The incident happened late at night and there were conflicting reports on whether a grandstand did fall.

Tens of thousands of people had gathered at the foot of Mount Meron to celebrate Lag BaOmer, a Jewish holiday honoring Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, a 2nd century sage and mystic who is buried there.

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It was the first huge religious gathering of its kind to be held legally since Israel lifted nearly all restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic.

The country has seen cases plummet since launching one of the world’s most successful vaccination campaigns late last year.

A spokesman for the Magen David Adom, Israel's rescue service, told AFP "there were 38 dead at the scene but there were more at the hospital."

A source at the northern Ziv hospital, one of several receiving casualties, later told AFP it had recorded at least six more deaths. 

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it a "heavy disaster" and said he was "praying for the injured".

The army and emergency services deployed helicopters to evacuate the wounded. 

Scenes from Meron hours after the accident showed an ultra-Orthodox Jewish crowd in distress, with debris scattered across the ground. 

Some survivors had lit candles for the victims while other prayed at a nearby wall. 

Israeli media have published an image of a row of bodies covered in plastic bags on the ground. 

'Terrible disaster'

"This is one of the worst tragedies that I have ever experienced," said Lazar Hyman of the United Hatzalah volunteer rescue service, who was at the scene. 

"I have not seen anything like this since I entered into the field of emergency medicine," he added. 

Yehuda Gottleib, one of the first responders from United Hatzalah, said he saw "dozens of people fall on top of one another during the collapse". 

"A large number of them were crushed and lost consciousness."

Opposition leader Yair Lapid lamented the "terrible disaster", and described it as a "sad" night for the country.