Israel remembers festival dead: Day of mourning is held for 45 people crushed to death in stampede after British man, 24, was named amongst victims
Flags were lowered at half-mast across Israel on Sunday to mourn victims of the stampede on Thursday night
Brit Moshe Bergman, 24, from Manchester, was formally identified as amongst the victims on Saturday
Insiders claimed there was political pressure on police to hold the event at any cost ahead of deadly crush
Reports say the head of Shas, a Haredi religious political party in Israel, asked there to be no limit of numbers
A total of 45 people were killed in the stampede at Mount Meron, Israel on Thursday, with at least 150 injured
Who is Responsible For The Deadly Stampede in Israel? Published May 2nd, 2021 - 05:01 GMT
People light candles during a vigil in Habima Square in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv on May 1, 2021,in the aftermath of a deadly stampede in a northern Jewish pilgrimage town. The the overnight disaster killed at least 45 people at an Orthodox Jewish pilgrimage site, one of the nation s worst peacetime disasters. JACK GUEZ / AFP
Highlights
In total, 45 people were killed as worshippers tripped and fell on a packed staircase at Mount Meron on Thursday.
A British man has today been named as among the victims of a stampede at a Jewish pilgrimage site that tragically left 45 people dead after hundreds of worshippers became trapped in an overcrowded passageway in Israel.
Michael Daventry is foreign editor of Jewish News
An strictly-Orthodox youth inspects leftover personal items at Mount Meron after the stampede (Photo:Ilia Yefimovich/dpa/Alamy Live News)
Israel has declared a nationwide day of mourning for Sunday in memory of at least 45 people who died during Lag B’Omer celebrations in Mount Meron.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli flags would be lowered to half-mast at buildings and bases across the country, and at embassies abroad.
“Let us all unite with the grief of the families and in prayer for the peace of the wounded,” he tweeted.
“Blessed be the memory of those who perished.”
Israel stampede was disaster waiting to happen: More than 100,000 crammed into site despite reports from 2008 and 2011 warning it posed danger to human life and capacity shouldn t exceed 15,000 - as Orthodox community lays victims to rest
Ex-comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss, who wrote a report from 13 years ago, warned of dangers to human life
A separate report two years later, in 2011, also said: The existing situation must be immediately changed
First victims of Israeli festival crush identified as funerals got underway in keeping with Orthodox tradition
Among dead include singer from Canada, a nine-year-old boy and his brother, two Americans and father-of-11
In total, 45 people were killed and 150 were wounded, some critically, during Lag B Omer at Mount Meron
British victim of Israel stampede: 24-year-old man from Manchester is named among the 45 people killed in crush amid claims Orthodox Jewish leaders put pressure on organisers NOT to limit numbers at festival
Insiders claimed there was political pressure on police to hold the event at any cost ahead of deadly crush
Reports say the head of Shas, a Haredi religious political party in Israel, asked there to be no limit of numbers
A total of 45 people were killed in the stampede at Mount Meron, Israel on Thursday, with at least 150 injured
Moshe Bergman, from Manchester,