Hezbollah Ordnance Kills Boy on School Hike, Northern Trips Paused

A 14-year-old boy was killed and 20 people were wounded on Monday when unexploded ordnance went off during a school hike near Mitzpeh Pe'err on the Ramim Ridge in northern Israel, TPS reports. The Times of Israel reports the blast came after a pupil on the outing lifted a Hezbollah submunition that had never gone off.

The students, in grades 7 to 9, were from the ORT Maalot Yeshiva High School and were on its annual trip near Yiftah, close to the Lebanese border, TPS reports. Accounts from the scene say a student found the device, put it in his bag and carried it for some time before it exploded. Magen David Adom said its first report came at 14:53. Three people were seriously wounded and airlifted by military and civilian helicopters to hospitals in the north, including Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa, and about 16 more were hurt, most of them lightly.

Preliminary assessments in the defense establishment point to an unexploded cluster bomb that Hezbollah fired at Israel during the recent war, TPS reports. The IDF said the circumstances were under review. Air Force helicopters brought in Unit 669 rescue teams and bomb disposal experts, and soldiers began sweeping the wider area for more munitions. Israel.com reports that IDF Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir ordered an investigation, according to The Times of Israel.

That evening Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Education Minister Yoav Kisch visited the wounded students and their families at Rambam, VINnews reports. One wounded student, 14-year-old Eitan Masauri, who was hit in the neck by shrapnel, told the prime minister that once he realized he was hurt, he saw a friend was wounded too and tried to help him, according to the Prime Minister's Office. Netanyahu said afterward he had heard about the students' bravery and how they helped one another. He ordered the Home Front Command to repeat its warnings never to touch unexploded ordnance and to carry out wide sweeps for any remaining munitions.

Kisch called the blast "an extremely difficult event" and has suspended school trips in the north for two days, Israel.com reports, citing Ynet. The Education Ministry said it was working with security forces to support students, staff and families, TPS reports. The military regularly warns the public not to touch suspicious objects. Anyone who finds one should keep away, warn others and call the police.