Three teenage boys on a rock-climbing training hike in northern Israel made a grim discovery Friday when they found the body of a man in his 20s in the Amud Stream nature reserve.
The teens, residents of the Galilee community of Kahal, spotted the body among rocks and dense vegetation in the early afternoon. Authorities said a preliminary assessment indicates the man fell to his death from a significant height roughly 12 hours before he was found.
Security forces rushed to the scene despite the initial report that a body had been located, holding out hope that the man might still be alive. An Israeli Air Force helicopter carrying a team from the elite 669 search-and-rescue unit was dispatched to the area. A physician who was lowered to the rugged site pronounced the man dead at the scene.
The victim’s car was later located in a nearby parking lot at the Moshel Kahal area, and his family was notified. The body was transferred from the Upper Galilee to the National Center for Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv for examination to determine the precise cause of death. Police said they are investigating the circumstances.
The task of recovering the body was assigned to volunteers from the Galil-Golan police search-and-rescue unit, who were responding to their fifth life-saving callout in the past week. Working in difficult and complex terrain, rescuers used rope systems in an operation that required advanced technical skill. The unit said the mission was carried out under real risk to volunteers, reflecting their commitment to retrieving every person from the field, even when rescue is no longer possible.
Behind the scenes, the operation sparked controversy. Inbal Shoham, the mother of one of the teenagers who found the body and a candidate in the Democrats party primary, criticized the conduct of authorities at the scene.
In a social media post, Shoham alleged that her son and his friends were left alone at the site for hours and were instructed by police and the Magen David Adom emergency service to photograph, document and help guide responders. She said the teens were required to repeatedly climb up and down the ravine to assist arriving forces and claimed that adult hikers in the area refused to help. “They stayed there and managed the incident until forces arrived,” Shoham wrote.
Speaking to ynet, Shoham clarified that her criticism was not directed at the volunteer rescue unit but at police officers who she said did not immediately descend to the rocky, brush-covered ravine where the body lay. She said the teens found themselves near the scene for about two hours, effectively “managing” the situation while assisting search and rescue teams who had difficulty accessing the site. She also alleged that forensic investigators did not descend to collect documentation or investigate the fall and instead relied on photographs the teens were asked to take.
Israel Police and the Galil-Golan rescue unit rejected Shoham’s claims, saying management of the scene and the recovery operation were conducted in accordance with established operational protocols for such complex terrain. Volunteers from the unit said rescue and recovery personnel were alongside the body at all stages, from the arrival of Unit 669 and the police rescue team until the body was extracted.