Savoy Hotel Attack
| Savoy Hotel attack | |
|---|---|
| Part of Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon | |
 The attack site
The attack site
|
|
| Location | Savoy Hotel in Tel Aviv, Israel |
| Coordinates | 32°04′21″N 34°45′57″E / 32.07250°N 34.76583°E |
| Date | 6 March 1975 |
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Attack type
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Shooting spree, Hostage taking |
| Deaths | 8 civilian hostages, 3 Israeli soldiers, 7 Fatah attackers |
| Perpetrators | 8 Palestinian assailants. The Palestinian Liberation Organization claimed responsibility. |
The Savoy Hotel attack was a terrorist attack by members of the Palestine Liberation Organization against the Savoy Hotel in Tel Aviv, Israel, on 4–5 March 1975.
The operation was planned by Abu Jihad.
Initial Palestinian planning had called for an attack against the Israeli tourist city of Nahariya, yet the team was apparently unable to locate the city on the night of a previous attempt, two months earlier. The operation's objectives were then changed to the Manshiya Neighborhood Youth Club and the Tel Aviv Opera Building. The contingency plan in case the original targets could not be located was to select any nearby buildings that were populated as targets.
The attackers were told to take hostages, then demand the release of Palestinian prisoners, as well as air transport out of Israel to Damascus. If the negotiations failed, they were told to kill their hostages and commit suicide. In the event of capture, they were instructed to tell their interrogators that they had come from Egypt, in the hope that this would result in a breakdown of ongoing Israeli-Egyptian peace negotiations, and to direct Israeli retaliation away from Lebanon.
At 11:00 p.m. on the night of 4 March 1975, eight Palestinians in two teams landed by boat on the Tel Aviv beach at the foot of Allenby Street. They had departed from the Lebanese port of Sarafenda, near Tyre on an Egyptian merchant ship. When the ship was about 60 miles off Tel Aviv, the teams were lowered in a boat, and landed on the shore. As they landed on the shore, they were spotted by police officers in a patrol vehicle that was passing by. The officers in the car opened fire at them, and one of the boats which was stocked with weapons was hit and exploded. The militants escaped the beach onto a street corner, leaving much of their weaponry behind in the boats. They then crossed onto Herbert Samuel Street, where they shot and threw grenades. Unable to locate their original targets, they tried but failed to break into a cinema. Afterwards, they continued down the street and took over the Savoy Hotel, at the corner of HaYarkon and Geula streets, near the center of the city. The Savoy Hotel was picked due to it being the only illuminated building on the street. During the takeover of the hotel, three people were killed. Three people managed to escape in the confusion, but most guests and staff were taken hostage and taken to the top floor of the building.
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