On 4 April 2015, ynetnews.com ran a story about the terror siege of the Savoy Hotel in 1975 and featured audio reels of the attack, which demonstrate the stress and tension associated with negotiations to secure the release of hotel patrons and staff.

Palestinian terrorists of the group Fatah, led by Khalil Ibrahim al-Wazir (Abu Jihad), on 6 March 1975 executed an amphibious raid on Tel Aviv in two rubber rafts. Israeli police discovered the raiding party, engaged it in a firefight, and the terrorists then seized the Savoy Hotel on Geula Street, demanding the release of 20 Palestinian prisoners.

The Israeli Special Forces unit Sayeret Matkal eventually launched a hostage rescue assault on the hotel, which is when the terrorists detonated explosives that destroyed the building’s top floor. The commandos cleared the building, regardless. The final casualty rate was eight hostages killed, seven terrorists killed, three Israeli soldiers killed, and eight terrorists captured.

Read more about this 1975 Mumbai-style attack decades before Mumbai (2008) ever happened here.