Damage reports kept flowing in and the gravity of the catastrophe became evident. Although there were no precise figures of casualties at this early stage and only rough estimations, the specialists from the Israel Atomic Energy Commission appraised the damage as being somewhat less than the outcome of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. This was due to two main reasons — the fact that some of the blast and radiation were attenuated by the massive stone buildings and the fact that it was detonated at ground level. The significance was that the immediate loss of life and total destruction were more or less contained within the walls of the Old City — an area of about one square kilometer with less than 30,000 people. The population of the entire city of Jerusalem included about 500,000 Jews and 300,000 Muslims as well as 20,000 defined as "others" meaning mainly Christians. Many of those residents would receive a dose of radiation directly or from radioactive fallout, and the expected number of casualties could reach about 50,000 within the next couple of months when radiation sickness took its toll. The loss of property, and more importantly the destruction of sites of cultural heritage and great religious significance, would be beyond anything in history.
Live updates from police and army forces on the ground and photos from airborne drones and helicopter crews showed great confusion and mass hysteria. The medical services in Jerusalem had more or less collapsed due to the influx of patients and the exodus of some members of the medical staff who wanted to save themselves and their families. However, most of the dedicated staff decided to stay and help those who could be saved. The triage — sorting those who could not be helped, those that didn't need any medical attention and those that could benefit from medical treatment — was the most demanding position in the emergency ward of the hospitals. Even the most hardened doctors who had seen mass-casualty victims during wartime or as a result of terrorist bombing of buses and markets could not stay at this post for more than an hour before arriving on the verge of suffering from a nervous breakdown. The real wounded as well as the shock victims continued to arrive in ambulances, private cars, buses and on foot. Fortunately, the two major hospitals in Jerusalem were a few kilometers west from the Old City and they were not directly hit by the blast, heat wave or significant doses of radiation. The roads leading out of Jerusalem looked like a large parking lot until the police managed to install some order and block all traffic going towards Jerusalem, turning the dual thoroughfare into a unidirectional highway. Cars that broke down were simply pushed off the road. Emergency teams, equipped with radiation monitors were flown into the Jerusalem region by helicopters and started surveying and marking the areas where the radiation level was above the hazard limit and assisting people who could not get out of those areas either because of physical injuries or due to loss of orientation. The entire Old City was announced as unsafe and a radiation hazard and subsequently put off limits. A few looters were shot on sight which effectively stopped those who tried to take advantage of the misery of others. A curfew was imposed by armed patrols wearing protective gear to avoid exposure to radioactive dust and armored vehicles which afforded some protection from radiation sources and "hot spots" on the ground.
By the next morning the government felt that it had gained control of the situation and life was slowly returning to normal in the areas that had been declared safe by the radiation monitoring teams. Fortunately, the so called "rule of seven" stating that after the first hour, every seven hours, 90 % of the radiation abated came into effect so that after 29 hours the radioactivity was about ten-thousand times lower than one hour after the explosion.
Many people who lived far from the ground zero site offered hospitality in their homes to the refugees from Jerusalem although others were afraid of catching radiation sickness despite the assurances issued by the TV and radio that it was not contagious. By now the government was moving to the second phase — placing the responsibility on the head of the ISA who readily submitted his resignation to the PM who accepted it publicly but in private asked him to coordinate the hunt for the perpetrators. The information provided by Mossad, based on David's work, clearly indicated that the extreme Islamic movement of ISIS was behind this dreadful act, but the PM wanted to use this opportunity to rid Israel of its worst enemies. The list was long, but Iran, Iraq and Syria were at the very top, and the PM called his military and civilian top advisors to propose plans for settling the account with the governments and infrastructure of these countries. The crucial meeting was set to take place the next evening since they wanted to gauge the reaction of the world leaders.
Ollie and Nasser paid the taxi driver and entered Sheik Khalil's modest house right by the mosque in Umm al-Fahm just as the news about the atom bomb in Jerusalem broke out. Within minutes the central square was filled with shocked residents with mixed feelings. On the one hand they felt that the Israelis deserved to be punished for the occupation and the many crimes committed against the Palestinian people since the foundation of the Jewish state in 1948, but on the other hand they realized that many of the victims were Arabs and mourned the destruction of the Al Aqsa and Dome of the Rock mosques. Except the Sheik no one knew the part played by their own young man, Nasser, and by the blond stranger who was the guest of honor at the Sheik's house. However, the celebrations did not last long because in less than an hour the village square was surrounded by armed Border Police troops that were accompanied by ISA agents that had come to arrest the Sheik and the two perpetrators. When the youths in the village demonstrated and tried to stop the troops, warning shots were fired in the air above the demonstrators and as they did not disperse instantly live ammunition was used indiscriminately by soldiers who already knew of the catastrophe that had hit Jerusalem. A few demonstrators were killed or wounded and the rest fled from the area.
Ollie and Nasser tried to disappear in the scuffle and sought refuge in the mosque together with a large number of villagers. The troops surrounded the mosque and ordered all the men to come out with their hands raised or they would detonate explosives and blow up the mosque. The blond man stood out in the crowd of worshippers and when a police officer approached him with handcuffs Ollie attacked him, hoping to be shot dead, but the sergeant who covered the officer zapped Ollie with his Taser and Ollie dropped to the floor convulsing as the high voltage current swept through his central nervous system.
David was informed that Ollie was captured alive and arranged for his interrogation at the most secure prison in Israel. The interrogation was short and easy as Ollie proudly narrated his involvement in the planning and manufacture of the improvised nuclear device and in placing it in the center of the Old City of Jerusalem. When he was told that most of the casualties were Muslims he shrugged and said that they too would be Shahids who died for the cause of the true faith. The whole confession was filmed for distribution to the world media. A few days later Ollie was brought to a military court that after a short trial he was sentenced to death by hanging. He was told that the final act would be carried out by a Muslim woman, the widow of one of his victims who had gladly volunteered to deliver the punishment, so that he would never reach paradise and the promised virgins.
Chapter 16