attacked by terrorists, locked themselves in their apartments, piled furniture near the doors and took shelter in the inner rooms. One resident of a nearby apartment building, journalist Yehuda Arieli, spotted the two terrorists in the parking lot and shot at them with his pistol. They returned fire and lobbed a grenade in his direction. Mordechai Zarnekin, who lived on the first floor of the building, feared that the terrorists would break into his apartment and had his wife Irka, son Gilad, and daughter Ronit escape the apartment from the bedroom window on a rope woven from sheets. After reaching ground, they began running toward the street, but were spotted by the terrorists, who shot at them and threw a grenade, killing all three of them. Zarnekin, who thought that he had saved his family, tried to escape the apartment as well, but was accidentally shot by Israeli security forces. Wounded, he returned to his apartment, where he hid until found by soldiers. Colonel Shai Tamari of the Oded Brigade initially took command of the security forces on the scene when he arrived; he passed command over to Major-General Rafael Eitan, head of the Northern Command. Eitan arrived together with Captain Mordechai Ben-Shach, commander of the Golani Brigade's Sayeret Golani unit. Soldiers from Battalion 12 of the Golani Brigade, based at Camp Shraga, near Nahariya, were called to the scene; the first Golani unit, commanded by Lieutenant Eldad Ronny, arrived at 23:50. The unit arrived at the eastern perimeter of the building, and was spotted by the terrorists in the parking lot, who were hiding behind cars. The terrorists opened fire at them and threw grenades. The soldiers returned fire, and Golani soldiers positioned on the roof of a nearby school also opened fire, possibly wounding the two terrorists. Shrapnel from a grenade injured one soldier. Takeover operation After the contractor that constructed the building provided a detailed explanation of its structure to the army, a plan for a takeover operation was formed. The operation began at 2:10 am, when Israeli soldiers stormed the house. At 2:25 while attempting to open a door, several shots were fired and three grenades were thrown out of the room by a terrorist. The shots and the shrapnel from the grenades killed an Israeli soldier, First Sergeant Dan Szenes, and wounded five. The terrorist, who was also seriously injured, attempted to crawl out onto