Coastal Road massacre
The Coastal Road massacre occurred on 11 March 1978, when Palestinian militants hijacked a bus on the Coastal Highway of Israel and murdered its occupants; 38 Israeli civilians, including 13 children, were killed as a result of the attack while 76 more were wounded. The attack was planned by the influential Palestinian militant leader Khalil al-Wazir (aka Abu Jihad) and carried out by Fatah, a Palestinian nationalist party co-founded by al-Wazir and Yasser Arafat in 1959. The initial plan of the militants was to seize a luxury hotel in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv and take tourists and foreign ambassadors hostage in order to exchange them for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody.
| Coastal Road massacre | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict | |
Remains of the hijacked bus being inspected shortly after the attack | |
The attack site | |
| Location | Coastal Highway near Tel Aviv, Israel |
| Coordinates | 32°08′52.6″N 34°48′11.4″E |
| Date | March 11, 1978 |
Attack type | Mass murder, spree killing |
| Weapons | Various weapons, possible grenade |
| Deaths | 48 (38 Israeli civilians including 13 children, 1 Israeli soldier + 9 Palestinian attackers) |
| Injured | 76 wounded |
| Perpetrators | Fatah, PLO |
No. of participants | 11 militants |
According to Time magazine, the timing was aimed primarily at undermining Israeli–Egyptian peace talks between Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat and damaging Israel's tourism sector. However, due to a navigational error, the attackers ended up 64 kilometres (40 mi) north of their target, and were forced to find an alternative method of transportation to their destination.
Time characterized it as "the worst terrorist attack in Israel's history." Fatah dubbed the hijacking "Operation of the Martyr Kamal Adwan" after the chief of operations of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), who was killed during the Israeli commando raid on Lebanon in April 1973. In response to the massacre, Israel launched Operation Litani against PLO bases in southern Lebanon three days later.