Hundreds of soldiers, police and other workers were searching through the rubble of the five-story building for survivors and bodies of the some 655 guests that had come to celebrate the wedding of Assaf Dror and Karen Yosef. The Israeli army's crack search and rescue team was leading the operation, using specially trained dogs to seek for signs of life but hopes of finding any survivors seemed slim. Amid the current tension between Israel and the PA, the PA offered on Friday to help Israeli rescuers search the ruins of a four-story building which caved in on Thursday, while more than 600 Israelis celebrated a wedding there. There is nothing to indicate the collapse was linked to terrorism. At least 23 people died and more than 300 were wounded in what is being called the worst civil disaster in Israel's history.
Dozens remain missing.
The survival kits are a direct response to the discovery of 14 bodies near the Mexico-Arizona border earlier this week. The Mexicans, abandoned by smugglers, died in the scorching heat. A group called the Arizona Border Rights Project blames a Clinton administration policy for what happened. They say Operation Gatekeeper, by stopping the flow of illegal immigrants near urban areas, has forced them to use more remote and dangerous crossing points. President Bush and Mexican President Vincente Fox have agreed to seek other ways of curbing illegal immigration.