Atleast 44 people were killed and 103 injured in a stampede after midnightThursday at an Israeli festival attended by tens of thousands of people, localmedia reported.
Thetragedy happened in Mount Meron in northern Israel, during the festivalcelebrated every year on the eve of the Jewish holiday Lag BaOmer, the Xinhuanews agency reported.
Accordingto estimates by the Israeli media, about 100,000 people, most of themultra-Orthodox Jews, participated in the festival this time.
IsraeliPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on Twitter, "A heavy disaster onMount Meron. We are all praying for the healing of the injured. I want tostrengthen the rescue crews operating there."
IsraeliPresident Reuven Rivlin also tweeted, "In-great concern I follow thereports from Meron and pray for the healing of the wounded. May God healthem."
Itwas first speculated that the tragedy was caused by the collapse of a stand,but Israeli ambulance service Magen David Adom (MDA) later said that it wascaused by crowding.
TheMDA added that the wounded were evacuated, some of them by helicopters, to fourhospitals in northern Israel and Jerusalem.
UnitedHatzalah emergency medical service said that dozens of resuscitations werecarried out at the site by the organisation's volunteers.