Student killed, 24 people hurt by suspected leftover Hezbollah cluster bomb in north Israel
An Israeli high school student was killed and two dozen other people injured Monday by a suspected leftover Hezbollah bomb as they hiked near the Lebanese border, Israeli officials said.
The Israeli military, which dispatched helicopters to the scene, said an initial review showed the explosion was likely caused by an unexploded munition from Hezbollah.
The explosive, which was likely a cluster bomb from a round of fighting three years ago, went off in the hands of a student who picked it up, Israeli police said.
Police said that school authorities had received the green-light for the outdoor excursion in the region, which Hezbollah has hit in successive rounds of fighting as Israel pounds the Iran-backed group.
"I share in the heavy grief of the family of the boy who was killed in the explosion during the trip near the northern border, and I wish a swift and full recovery to all the injured," Defense Minister Israel Katz posted on X, adding that the incident was being investigated.
Israeli authorities said the victim was 14 or 15 years old.
The Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency services said 24 other people were wounded in the blast, including two teenage boys who were seriously hurt with shrapnel injuries.
MDA emergency medical technician David Radko said that upon arriving at the scene, he saw that "casualties were scattered along the road, some holding and trying to help their injured friends."
"Everyone tried to help their friends as much as they could. Some even applied tourniquets to their friends to stop the bleeding," he was quoted as saying in a statement.
The MDA said the injured were transported to three medical centers in northern Israel.
AFP footage from Ziv Hospital in the northern city of Safed showed paramedics wheeling the injured out of ambulances and into the facility on stretcher trolleys.
- 'Dangers that cannot be ignored' -
The incident injured both students and staff from a religious high school as they were on an outing, the municipality of the northern city of Maalot-Tarshiha said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu scrapped plans and was holding assessments over the "severe incident," his office said.
"The Prime Minister asked to ensure that the injured are being evacuated as quickly as possible to hospitals and is continuing to hold ongoing assessments," Netanyahu's office said in a statement.
The incident comes ahead of October 27 elections in which Netanyahu is facing a tough race for a new term.
The opposition is accusing him of not doing enough to ensure Israelis' security after three years of war, despite recent quiet from Gaza, which Israel has devastated since the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas.
Gadi Eisenkot, who is the principal challenger in the elections, said he was "praying together with all Israelis for the swift recovery of the wounded" and wished strength to rescue teams.
Yair Golan, head of the center-left Democrats party, said three years of periodic fighting with Hezbollah had left Israel's northern border area with "dangers that cannot be ignored."
He called for "a thorough and comprehensive inspection of the hiking areas in the north," including removing unexploded ordnance.
Earlier this year, Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war with rocket fire at Israel in solidarity with its backer Iran, which was attacked by Israel and the United States.
Israel responded with airstrikes and a ground invasion into Lebanon, where authorities say more than 4,300 people have been killed since March.
Israel and Lebanon agreed to a framework deal that involves the disarmament of Hezbollah, a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces and the deployment of the Lebanese Army to the region.
Violence in the border area has since decreased. Israel last month carried out a massive explosion in Lebanon to destroy a tunnel complex where it said Hezbollah kept weapons and fighters.
Source: Agence France Presse
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