Israel on Sunday observed a day of morning for the 45 people who lost their lives in a stamped that took place on an orthodox-Jewish festival on Friday.
The day of mourning was marked with flags at half-mast. The incident has been described as the worst peacetime disaster since the country was founded in 1948.
Over 20 of the victims of the stampede were buried on Friday night. Prayer vigils were held all over the country and cabinet meeting for the day was cancelled. The stampede took place at Mount Meron, where people were visiting the tomb of a second-century Jewish mystic Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.
“We're all heartbroken, saddened, shattered into a million pieces. There are no words to describe the feeling of the entire country,” Rabbi Velvel Brevda, told Reuters.
Israel had eased coronavirus restrictions after a speedy rollout of the vaccine. on the day of the event, about 100,000 people were visiting the tomb. The Israeli government is now faced with questions as to whether the government and police had been reluctant to limit the crowd size at the site.
“We are working to discover the truth and produce educated and balanced lessons for all organisations involved in this complex event,” Police Commissioner Yaavok Shabtai said. The victims included ten foreign nationals including six Americans, a British national, two Canadians and an Argentinian.
