Two Israelis were confirmed dead and three others are believed to have been missing in terror attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, said Haaretz newspaper.
One of the dead was identified as Daniel Lewin, one of the two founders of Akamai Technologies, who was on the American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston to Los Angles that crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center.
The second has been named as 30-year-old Alona Avraham from Ashdod.
At least three more Israelis believed to have been in the building are missing,
Army Radio quoted Foreign Ministry officials as saying Wednesday.
One of the Israelis was reported to have contacted his wife by mobile phone from within the ruins of the Trade Center.
Hundreds of Israelis staying in New York have been located by the Foreign Ministry since Tuesday night and their families have been updated.
The Israeli consulate in New York has been working with increased manpower since the attack, and are looking for Israelis in hospitals.
The Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that all the Israeli consulates in the world are working, and were not shut down as previously reported, according to the paper.
All flags on state buildings and schools were lowered to half-mast Wednesday, as Israel observed a national day of mourning for the victims of the terror attacks.
Responding to the catastrophic wave of attacks and plunging markets in Europe and the Far East, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange opened sharply lower Wednesday, but partially recovered by early afternoon trading. At the end of trading Wednesdsay, the Tel Aviv's Maof index was down 2.6 percent after plunging by 5.5 percent. The Tel Aviv 100 closed with a 2.8 percent drop at the end of trading.
The Tel-Tech, which dropped 7 percent shortly after trading opened, was 3.33 percent down at the end of trading.
After the dollar strengthened dramatically against the shekel to 4.41 on Tuesday, the shekel recovered somewhat and the representative rate was set at 4.338 to the dollar, said the paper – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
