At least two worshippers have been killed and about 150 injured when a grandstand collapsed in a synagogue under construction in a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank, Israel's national ambulance service says.
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A spokesman for Magen David Adom told Channel 13 that paramedics had treated over 157 people for injuries and pronounced two dead, a man in his 50s and a 12-year-old boy.
Rescue workers were on the scene, treating the injured and taking people to the hospital.
The accident in Givat Zeev, just north of Jerusalem, raised more questions about safety measures at large ultra-Orthodox events, two weeks after 45 pilgrims were crushed to death in a stampede at the burial site of a Jewish sage in northern Israel.
A police spokesman said 650 worshippers were at the Givat worship site for the start of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot.
The event was held in a partially constructed synagogue. The local mayor and senior fire brigade and police officers said it had gone ahead despite the lack of a permit and official warnings that the building zone was unsafe.
Security footage broadcast on Channel 12 TV showed a crowded grandstand collapsing and worshippers falling on top of each other.
"We were called again to another event where there was negligence and a lack of responsibility. There will be arrests," Jerusalem District police chief Doron Turgeman said from the scene, on live TV.
The disaster triggered renewed criticism over the broad autonomy granted to the country's politically powerful ultra-Orthodox minority.
Last year, many ultra-Orthodox communities flouted coronavirus safety restrictions, contributing to high outbreak rates in their communities and angering the broader secular public.
Australian Associated Press
