TEL AVIV — A teenager was killed and 19 others were injured Monday afternoon when suspected unexploded ordnance detonated during a school trip in northern Israel, near the Lebanese border, prompting a large-scale emergency response involving ambulances, rescue helicopters, and military bomb disposal teams.The Israeli miltary said an initial review by soldiers at the scene indicated that the explosion was caused by an unexploded Hezbollah munition that had fallen in the area. It’s unclear when the projectile was fired.Pictures released by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) showed a military helicopter evacuating patients for medical treatment.Initial reports suggest that one of the students picked up the unexploded device during the hike and placed it in a backpack. The device reportedly detonated several minutes later.“Apparently, the suspicion is that an unexploded munition of some kind exploded in the hands of one of the students,” said Deputy Police Commissioner Meir Eliyahu, a commander in Israel’s northern district, according to Reuters.The municipality of Ma’alot-Tarshiha identified the dead teenager as 15-year-old Elazar Yair Wilensky, a ninth-grade student and youngest of five siblings.In a statement released by the municipality, his family says he was “a child who embraced life. He was smart and bright, full of joy, a good and beloved friend, with his entire future still ahead of him.”According to United Hatzalah, an Israeli emergency response service, three people sustained serious injuries in the explosion, while at least 10 others suffered light-to-moderate injuries. Police said they evacuated the wounded to three hospitals in the area.In a statement, the Ma’alot-Tarshiha municipality in northern Israel said students and staff were on the local school’s annual field trip when the explosion happened.On Monday evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, along with Israel’s education minister, visited the wounded and their families at Rambam Hospital in Haifa. Netanyahu instructed the IDF to reinforce the prohibitions against touching unexploded ordnance.Shortly after the explosion occurred on Monday afternoon, Israel Police said the initial suspicion was that the explosion was a result of an unexploded munition along the border near the villages of Yiftah and Manara. Bomb disposal experts were dispatched to examine the cause of the explosion, police said.Magan David Adom (MDA), Israel’s emergency response service, said it was a “complex incident” as it sent numerous teams to the site. “We quickly dispatched substantial forces to the scene, including ambulances, mobile intensive care units (MICUs), and an MDA helicopter, which was also scrambled to the incident,” MDAregional director Itzik Shushan said.Israel has razed entire villages in southern Lebanon and has continued to carry out regular strikes there as it tries to remove Hezbollah from the territory.TEL AVIV — A teenager was killed and 19 others were injured Monday afternoon when suspected unexploded ordnance detonated during a school trip in northern Israel, near the Lebanese border, prompting a large-scale emergency response involving ambulances, rescue helicopters, and military bomb disposal teams.The Israeli miltary said an initial review by soldiers at the scene indicated that the explosion was caused by an unexploded Hezbollah munition that had fallen in the area. It’s unclear when the projectile was fired.Pictures released by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) showed a military helicopter evacuating patients for medical treatment.Initial reports suggest that one of the students picked up the unexploded device during the hike and placed it in a backpack. The device reportedly detonated several minutes later.“Apparently, the suspicion is that an unexploded munition of some kind exploded in the hands of one of the students,” said Deputy Police Commissioner Meir Eliyahu, a commander in Israel’s northern district, according to Reuters.The municipality of Ma’alot-Tarshiha identified the dead teenager as 15-year-old Elazar Yair Wilensky, a ninth-grade student and youngest of five siblings.In a statement released by the municipality, his family says he was “a child who embraced life. He was smart and bright, full of joy, a good and beloved friend, with his entire future still ahead of him.”According to United Hatzalah, an Israeli emergency response service, three people sustained serious injuries in the explosion, while at least 10 others suffered light-to-moderate injuries. Police said they evacuated the wounded to three hospitals in the area.In a statement, the Ma’alot-Tarshiha municipality in northern Israel said students and staff were on the local school’s annual field trip when the explosion happened.On Monday evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, along with Israel’s education minister, visited the wounded and their families at Rambam Hospital in Haifa. Netanyahu instructed the IDF to reinforce the prohibitions against touching unexploded ordnance.Shortly after the explosion occurred on Monday afternoon, Israel Police said the initial suspicion was that the explosion was a result of an unexploded munition along the border near the villages of Yiftah and Manara. Bomb disposal experts were dispatched to examine the cause of the explosion, police said.Magan David Adom (MDA), Israel’s emergency response service, said it was a “complex incident” as it sent numerous teams to the site. “We quickly dispatched substantial forces to the scene, including ambulances, mobile intensive care units (MICUs), and an MDA helicopter, which was also scrambled to the incident,” MDAregional director Itzik Shushan said.Israel has razed entire villages in southern Lebanon and has continued to carry out regular strikes there as it tries to remove Hezbollah from the territory.
