The Education Ministry announced Monday that school trips near the Lebanese border and in the northern Golan Heights would be suspended for 48 hours following an explosion that killed a 14-year-old student and injured 23 others during an excursion in the Upper Galilee. Education Minister Yoav Kisch said the trip and its route had been approved in advance but that safety procedures would now be reassessed.
The announcement came as 14-year-old Eitan Masaouri, who was wounded by shrapnel in his neck, described the terrifying moments of the explosion to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a visit to Rambam Medical Center in Haifa.
Gallery
Wounded student Eitan Masaouri tells Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu how the explosion unfolded
(Photo: Prime Minister's Office)
"We stopped to eat, and one of the students noticed something that could be unscrewed. He unscrewed it, and then it exploded," Masaouri recalled.
"Kids went flying and fell into the bushes. There were about two seconds of shock, and then someone told me I was bleeding too."
Netanyahu noted that Masaouri had remained conscious throughout the incident.
"I realized blood was coming from my neck, so I took off my shirt," the teenager continued. "I saw a friend lying on the ground. He was bleeding from his leg and head, and I wanted to help him. Then we sent our location."
The explosion occurred during an annual school trip by students from the ORT Ma'alot-Tarshiha religious high school near Mitzpe Pe'er, close to Israel's northern border.
One student was killed, three were seriously wounded, 10 sustained moderate injuries and another 10 were lightly hurt.
Security officials increasingly believe the explosion was caused by an old unexploded Hezbollah cluster munition. According to earlier witness accounts, a group of students found the device, handled it and posed for photographs before it detonated.
Education minister orders 48-hour suspension of school trips
Speaking at Rambam Medical Center hours after the explosion, Kisch said the circumstances of the disaster would be thoroughly investigated.
"We will examine in depth all the implications of what happened on the ground," he said.
The minister praised the students' response to the emergency, saying they had taken an active role in helping their injured classmates.
"The students managed the incident," Kisch said. "There were children there from seventh through ninth grade. Together with Magen David Adom, they helped speed up the evacuation to hospitals."
He emphasized that the excursion had received official authorization.
The scene of the incident
"According to the preliminary examination, the trip was approved by the Education Ministry's situation room. The route and everything else had been approved in advance, and hiking there was permitted."
Nevertheless, Kisch announced an immediate suspension of school excursions in the northern border region for 48 hours to allow officials to reassess the safety of the routes.
"Trips that were planned will be moved to other locations," he said.
The minister stressed that the existing approval policy had been based on IDF safety guidelines.
"These guidelines were in place. I'm not blaming anyone," he said. "There is unexploded ordnance that can detonate. Extra caution is needed, just as people know they must be careful around scorpions."
Kisch said the areas had undergone examinations involving the IDF, the Jewish National Fund and the Home Front Command, but acknowledged the possibility that the students had strayed from the designated trail.
"The students may have crossed beyond the trail," he said, emphasizing that this had not yet been established.
"The disaster requires us to stop and examine everything again. We will speak with the IDF and ask about these specific areas. The military will conduct its examination, we will conduct ours, and then we will reach conclusions."
Trips on October 13 and 14 rerouted
Following Kisch's announcement, the Education Ministry issued detailed instructions to schools and educational institutions.
The ministry said all excursions scheduled for October 13 and 14 in northern confrontation-line communities and the northern Golan Heights would be redirected to alternative routes.
Groups already hiking in those areas were instructed to leave their trails and move to alternative destinations in coordination with the ministry's trip coordination center.
School trips elsewhere in Israel will proceed as scheduled.
The ministry also reiterated nationwide safety instructions concerning unexploded ordnance, stressing the importance of avoiding suspicious objects and military remnants.
The bomb that exploded on Ramim Ridge
Any requests to change a route or obtain an exemption from the temporary restrictions must be reviewed by the ministry's trip coordination center.
In the coming days, the ministry will work with the military and other relevant authorities to reassess the procedures used to approve educational activities in areas affected by the war.
The ministry expressed condolences to the family of the student who was killed and wished the injured a speedy recovery.
It also said emergency procedures had been activated immediately after the explosion, including the convening of a special situation room led by Kisch and the ministry's director-general.
Students helped stop their friends' bleeding
Emergency responders described an exceptionally difficult scene in which injured students helped their classmates even while struggling with their own wounds.
Magen David Adom emergency medical technician David Radko, who was among the first responders to reach the site, said the injured were scattered along the trail.
"I arrived first on an MDA motorcycle and immediately saw the scale of the incident," he recalled.
"The wounded were scattered along the route. Some were holding their injured friends and trying to help them. Farther along the route, I saw the more seriously wounded students."
Radko began triaging the injured and attempting to stop severe bleeding.
Despite the chaos, he said the students demonstrated remarkable composure and cooperation.
"Some had even applied tourniquets to their friends to stop the bleeding. I gave them instructions on how to help, and they listened and followed them," he said.
"It was an extremely difficult and complex scene. Seeing injured children in that condition is never easy."
MDA paramedic Orly Ben Simon described the desperate efforts to save the 14-year-old boy who died.
"There was tremendous commotion and shouting," she said.
"Among the cries for help, we identified several casualties with injuries of varying severity, including a 14-year-old boy who was unconscious and in critical condition."
Paramedics immediately began prolonged resuscitation efforts, but his injuries proved fatal.
"Unfortunately, his injuries were critical, and we had to pronounce him dead at the scene," Ben Simon said.
The wounded were evacuated to Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, Ziv Medical Center in Safed and Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya.
The investigation now faces two central questions: how an unexploded munition remained accessible along a school hiking route near the Lebanese border, and whether the group stayed within the route that had been authorized.
For now, the Education Ministry's temporary restrictions remain in place while the military and civilian authorities reassess the safety of school excursions in the north.