The Ma'alot massacre, in which DFLP militants killed 22 children among 25 hostages, became one of the deadliest terrorist attacks on Israeli soil in the 1970s.
Key Facts
- Total hostages taken
- More than 115, including 105 children
- Hostages killed
- 25, including 22 children
- Hostages injured
- 68
- Perpetrator group
- Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP)
- Militants involved
- 3 armed DFLP members
- Rescue force
- Sayeret Matkal commandos
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Three armed members of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine infiltrated Israel from Lebanon on 14 May 1974. They attacked a van, killing two Israeli Arab women, then entered an apartment building and killed a family of three before proceeding to the Netiv Meir Elementary School in Ma'alot.
In the early hours of 15 May 1974, the militants seized more than 115 hostages, predominantly 14- to 16-year-old students from Safad on a Gadna field trip. The captors demanded the release of 26 prisoners from Israeli jails. When Israeli commandos stormed the school minutes before the 18:00 deadline, the militants turned grenades and automatic weapons on the children.
Twenty-five hostages, including 22 children, were killed and 68 others were injured. The massacre provoked intense international attention and prompted Israel to reassess its counter-terrorism and hostage-rescue policies. It remains one of the most lethal attacks against Israeli civilians in that era.