A Passover excursion of Greek pilgrims to the Holy Land, which included a visit to Egypt, has come to a tragic end did on the morning of April 18, 1996.
The excursion of Greek tourists to the Holy Land, which included a visit to Cairo, turned into a tragedy when four Islamic fanatics, shouting “Allah is great”, murdered death in the Euphoria hotel in the Egyptian capital, resulting in 18 dead and 17 injured.
Little before 8 a.m. on April 18, 1996, the Greek tourists were preparing to board a coach waiting outside their hotel, intending to visit the pyramids and then travel to Alexandria. It was at that moment that four armed men appeared and began firing indiscriminately at our compatriots who were desperately trying to escape the terrorists’ fury.
The four Islamists were determined to kill as many as they could. They made their way to the hotel dining room, gunning down the unsuspecting Greeks who were having breakfast. They then boarded the white van they came in and, threatening a public bus driver who tried to stop them, fled in an unknown direction.
Police and ambulances began to arrive after 15 minutes,taking the dead and injured to the nearest hospitals. The survivors were ordered to go up to their rooms so that the counting of the injured and dead could begin, and a list of names of the survivors could be compiled.
Panic and anxiety prevailed in Greece, immediately after the news of the Cairo massacre, as relatives and friends of Greek tourists flooded tourist offices, desperately seeking to know the fate of their loved ones.
Egyptian authorities shortly afterwards told the media that the death toll stood at 18,while the number of injured remained unknown. Only late in the evening was it known that the injured Greeks numbered 17. On the same day, local police announced that their men had managed to neutralize and kill two of the four terrorists.
Egyptian authorities have from the outset expressed surprise at this attack and at the same time expressed doubts about whether the terrorists had targeted Greek tourists. Egyptian officials said that the real target of the terrorists must have been Israelis, since people of that nationality usually stayed at the Europa Hotel.
Two days later, on April 20, in a proclamation, Al Gamaa al-Islamiya, the fanatical Islamist organization in Egypt, claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack on the Greek tourists. The Islamists said in the text of their proclamation that their target was Israeli tourists who usually stayed at the “Europa” and that they mistakenly hit the Greeks. However, the organization claimed that it would continue attacks against Israeli targets, as well as American targets, in Egypt and around the world.
The attack was condemned by the country’s state and political leadership, the international community, and the European Parliament,while the wounded who were being treated in hospitals in Athens were visited by Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa on April 23.
