Woodland Hills Girl Is Killed at Israeli Rock Concert : Tragedy: Henny Yitzhak, 16, is trampled to death when fans stampede arena. She had been visiting for summer break.

JERUSALEM —  A 16-year-old Woodland Hills girl was one of two teen-agers crushed to death in a stampede at an “Israeli Woodstock” rock concert in the southern desert town of Arad, authorities reported Wednesday.

The girl, identified by police and relatives as Henny Yitzhak, was trampled when fans broke through a gate and stormed into an arena where Machina, a popular Israeli rock group, was scheduled to give its farewell concert. About 95 youths were injured.

In Netanya, friends and family gathered to comfort Yosef Ben Yitzhak, Henny Yitzhak’s brother. In a telephone interview, Ben Yitzhak said Henny--who was born in Israel, then moved to Los Angeles with her parents in 1982--had been spending her summer vacation here.

Joining thousands of other frantic parents and relatives who flocked to Arad on Tuesday night after Israel Radio broadcast news of mass injuries in the stampede, he and an uncle drove to the town and found Henny’s body in a hospital morgue, he said.

“She was a great kid,” Ben Yitzhak said. “She was a good student, very active in the Jewish community in Woodland Hills. Everybody loved her. She just went down there with a bunch of friends, planning to stay a couple of days and come back.”

The concert, part of a weeklong music festival billed by promoters as the “Israeli Woodstock,” opened in Arad on Monday.

The other youth killed was identified as Eitan Peled, 17, from the Israeli city of Beersheba.

Music festivals are common in Israel, but police spokesman Eric Bar Chen said that Tuesday night’s stampede was the first serious incident to occur at such an event.

In a nation where most young men and women enter the army for two- to three-year stints at age 18, and where illegal drug use or excessive drinking are still rare among the young, even open-air rock festivals tend to be tame by American or European standards.

Israelis expressed shock and anger in phone calls to radio talk shows throughout the day Wednesday. “This culture is destroying the country,” said a man who identified himself only as Amos. “We should return to Jewish culture; this is Hellenistic culture.”

Education Minister Amnon Rubenstein said the incident revealed a fundamental flaw in the value system of Israeli youth. “This should fortify our determination to introduce self-discipline in schools. We want our children to be better behaved,” he said. “We must try and change the norms of behavior of our young people and teach them more respect for each other’s rights.”

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Bar Chen said the trouble erupted Tuesday night when as many as 5,000 people without tickets tried to push their way into the Machina concert when the main gate was opened to about 18,000 ticket-holders. “It’s the sort of thing that can happen anywhere, a sudden surge inside the crowd, and suddenly, the people in front are being trampled by the people pushing from behind them,” he said. He said hundreds of police were on the scene when the stampede began. They evacuated the arena and canceled the concert.

But dozens of youths were knocked to the ground before the area was cleared. Five remained in hospitals Wednesday and hospital officials said that two were in serious condition. Bar Chen said the police launched an internal investigation of their handling of the incident.

Wednesday afternoon, Shulamit Aloni, the minister of communications, culture and science, announced that the Israeli government would set up its own investigatory committee.

Meantime, the scheduled performers refused to go on stage.

“We will not celebrate on the blood tonight. There is a limit,” said Shlomo Artzi, a superstar on the Israeli rock scene who was due to perform Wednesday night.

By early evening, the festival’s organizers--including Bezalel Taviv, mayor of Arad--announced that pressure from parents and performers was forcing them to cancel the festival. Hundreds of thousands of people who were camped out in the area were offered free transportation home.