Double tragedy • approximately 300 people injured of density

More than 850 thousand people are participating at this time in the funeral of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef ztk"l, up until now, around 300 people who had suffered of fainting, bruising and more were treated by MDA and Ichud Hatzalah, of which eight people were evacuated by MDA in ambulances to hospitals in the city.

An exceptional case was recorded, when part of the wall surrounding the former Schneller compound collapsed, but miraculously there were no injuries.

Factors involved in organizing the funeral complain that the police did not properly prepare for the large scale of the funeral.

Israeli police said that "Israel Police operates according to established operational plan in advance and included the reinforcement of the Jerusalem district - with more than 4,000 police officers, during the biggest funeral in the history of the country.

Police stressed that the large police forces assigned to the security of over half a million people showed up as required and additional forces were brought to Jerusalem as part of the national mission to continued activity this evening and tonight.

"It should be noted that the representatives of the Jerusalem District Police met and coordinated all the preparations with representatives of the family and with the decision regarding the time of funeral, the Israel Police has updated the driving public by the media regarding the special traffic arrangements and evaluation on traffic flow accordingly", it said.

However, "Despite calls by the police to the public to act with restraint and responsibility because of the dangerous overcrowding, we have witnessed risky behavior and therefore are forced to turn again to the leadership of the sector, with a request to call upon the public to act with the required caution before there are injuries."

"It is important to understand that the security of the funeral is held in highly complex field conditions, including streets which are too narrow to contain the hundreds of thousands of participants. The Israel Police operates with sensitivity, professionalism and balances necessitated by the outline and timing of the funeral, the complex field conditions and mass of participants, in order to fulfill the mission of national maintenance the public peace and security."

Police Commissioner Chief Commander Yohanan Danino, said during a visit to the district center: "The masses accompanying the funeral procession are endangering their safety and our request is to avoid harming life and various means of information were taken by the police and the municipality - including the PA and the media – to act carefully and with responsibly. Also, I instructed to build circles of security, order and transportation according to an updated picture."

Factors in the Operations Division of the Israel Police and officials at the General Staff are now holding consultations for the possibility of reinforcing the Jerusalem district police to deal with hundreds of thousands of citizens who came to attend the funeral. The IDF spokesman declined to comment on the issue. At this stage the staff of HFC is on call in case of an event of mass trampling or numerous casualties.

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!