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Israeli school group wounded after unexploded bomb detonates
Israeli school group wounded after unexploded bomb detonates
i24NEWS English
1.8K views • 20 likes • 18 comments
1 week ago • 7:14 min
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Transcript
[00:00]
This is a very serious incident
[00:02]
involving children who had gone on a
[00:04]
field trip. Based on the findings of the
[00:06]
Israel police, the most professional
[00:09]
agency in the country, it appears the
[00:11]
incident involved unexloded ordinance
[00:13]
left over from the war with Hezbollah. I
[00:15]
would like to add something else. There
[00:17]
is an established protocol for field
[00:19]
trips in Israel, including in this area.
[00:22]
To the best of my understanding,
[00:24]
following the situation assessment I
[00:25]
conducted, this trip had received the
[00:28]
necessary approvals. Nevertheless, I
[00:30]
came here with the district commander to
[00:32]
verify that everything was handled
[00:34]
correctly and to ensure that such an
[00:36]
incident does not happen again. I have
[00:38]
looked into the matter and it currently
[00:40]
appears to have been an authorized trip.
[00:43]
I will likely issue a directive in
[00:45]
coordination with the IDF to curtail or
[00:47]
halt these trips in the coming days so
[00:49]
we can re-evaluate whether we are
[00:51]
putting the children at risk.
[00:55]
>> Of the 24 injured, two are in serious
[00:58]
condition with shrapnel wounds. 10 are
[01:00]
moderately injured, including two
[01:02]
adults, and the other 12 are suffering
[01:04]
light injuries. Now, six of the wounded
[01:06]
are currently being treated at the
[01:07]
Galilee Medical Center in Naharia.
[01:10]
Here's the hospital's deputy director.
[01:13]
>> Six casualties from the incident at the
[01:15]
northern border were airlifted to the
[01:17]
Galilee Medical Center within the last
[01:19]
hour. The six teens are aged 14 to 16.
[01:22]
Two are in serious condition. One was
[01:24]
rushed to the operating room. His
[01:26]
condition is stable, though the surgery
[01:28]
is still ongoing. Three others are in
[01:30]
moderate condition and will require
[01:31]
surgery later this evening, while two
[01:33]
sustained minor injuries.
[01:36]
For the latest, I'm joined in studio now
[01:38]
by security analyst Jonathan Reg, as
[01:41]
well as our I24 News senior Middle East
[01:42]
correspondent Ariel Osan. Gentlemen,
[01:44]
thanks for being with me in the I24 News
[01:46]
studio. Uh Jonathan, I want to begin
[01:48]
with you as far as what we know about
[01:49]
this ordinance so far, how could it
[01:52]
remain unexloded for so long and then
[01:55]
detonate once it was actually being
[01:56]
handled?
[01:58]
>> As as it seems, as as far as we know, of
[02:00]
course, there are no final conclusions
[02:02]
yet. As as far as we know, this is some
[02:05]
kind of a an an unexloded ordinance
[02:08]
which was fired by months ago most
[02:11]
probably and landed in this area which
[02:13]
is very close to the border. It probably
[02:15]
needed something some movement to
[02:17]
trigger it. It was lying on the ground
[02:18]
probably for months. As far as we know,
[02:21]
and again, these are not final
[02:22]
conclusions, but let's call this initial
[02:24]
conclusions. These were things that were
[02:26]
hid somewhere on the ground behind the
[02:29]
bushes or or something that was hiding
[02:30]
it. and and some some some
[02:34]
of the children there found it, picked
[02:36]
it up, and that apparently triggered the
[02:39]
explosions.
[02:40]
Again, I'm saying this note because
[02:42]
there's a a conclusion of some kind of
[02:44]
investigation, but I would guess this is
[02:46]
not the final unexloded ordinance that
[02:49]
lies in that area and maybe even further
[02:51]
away from the border and therefore these
[02:53]
areas have to be combed and scattered
[02:55]
again and again because more of these
[02:58]
are probably there to be found. Having
[03:00]
said that, you can blame the authorities
[03:03]
who have authorized going in such a path
[03:05]
when this ordinance is there. You should
[03:08]
also warn travelers again and again
[03:11]
saying that if if you see something
[03:12]
suspicious, this is growing up in
[03:15]
Israel. I can tell you that we were told
[03:17]
this as very little kids, don't pick it
[03:19]
up.
[03:20]
>> Ariel, this is a major question that
[03:22]
Jonathan is pointing here because this
[03:23]
trip was approved. this route that the
[03:26]
children were hiking on that was
[03:28]
previously screened as we heard from
[03:29]
Israel's police commissioner. And so
[03:31]
what are the main questions that
[03:32]
actually have to be answered in this
[03:34]
devastating security incident?
[03:36]
>> Yeah, this is a terrible tragedy and
[03:38]
obviously the condolences to the family
[03:40]
of the teen who lost his life in an
[03:43]
incident that probably could have been
[03:45]
avoided. But this raises so many
[03:48]
questions moving forward. First, why was
[03:51]
the field trip approved in the first
[03:53]
place? If Ken Kle said the Jewish
[03:56]
National Fund put up a sign at the
[03:57]
entrance to the route warning not to
[04:00]
enter because there could still be
[04:02]
unexloded ordinances on the path.
[04:05]
Another question is the police say that
[04:07]
the path was screened in advance and so
[04:11]
either the path or either the screening
[04:14]
was inadequate because it was either
[04:17]
found on the path or on the sides of the
[04:20]
path which is something that needs to be
[04:22]
screened as well. It's not enough just
[04:24]
to look along the route but also on the
[04:27]
sides of the route when you want to deem
[04:30]
such a path safe for travel. And another
[04:33]
key question is why is the education
[04:36]
ministry allowing field trips to take
[04:38]
place so close along the border with
[04:40]
Hezbollah when Israel is still engaged
[04:43]
in a war with Hezbollah and is actually
[04:45]
issuing warnings of Hezbollah's attempts
[04:48]
to try and carry out attacks against
[04:50]
Israeli soldiers and civilians. Now,
[04:53]
obviously, this is an old unexloded
[04:56]
ordinance, but that doesn't remove the
[04:59]
threat level for that area. And so,
[05:02]
there are many questions that need to be
[05:04]
asked right now. And as Jonathan says,
[05:06]
the investigation is still ongoing.
[05:08]
Hopefully, we'll receive answers to
[05:10]
these questions in the near future.
[05:12]
>> What should authorities be doing
[05:14]
immediately when it comes to uh the
[05:16]
blast site or even other nearby hiking
[05:18]
routes as this investigation does
[05:20]
continue? Uh first of all, I would say
[05:22]
the this place where where it happened
[05:24]
is is literally meters away from the
[05:26]
border. I think that that going there
[05:28]
regardless of this incident going hiking
[05:31]
so close to the border when we're
[05:34]
speaking of so many children is unsafe.
[05:36]
True. The border today does not look
[05:39]
like it looked three years ago. There
[05:40]
are Israeli forces on on that border and
[05:43]
even kilometers away. But still
[05:46]
incidents withaha are still ongoing. It
[05:48]
was what 48 hours ago when some kind
[05:51]
some kind of a of a of a UAV of an
[05:54]
aerial vehicle appeared in the raiders
[05:57]
and then disappeared from the raiders.
[05:59]
Where is it? We don't know. So, so
[06:01]
things are still dangerous. So, so
[06:03]
hiking so close to the border is
[06:06]
dangerous regardless of this of this
[06:08]
incident. And when you walk so close to
[06:10]
the border, there's there's a higher
[06:12]
chance of finding ammunition that did
[06:13]
not explode from the border from from
[06:16]
from the war. maybe maybe even old
[06:20]
Israeli ammunition. Clearly ammunition
[06:23]
that crossed the border. We know that
[06:24]
that that was firing at these border
[06:26]
communities the whole time. So first
[06:29]
make sure that the the the trips are a
[06:31]
bit more distant from the border itself.
[06:33]
and second scatter and comb those trails
[06:36]
again and again and again because this
[06:38]
trail was was as far as we understand
[06:41]
authorities did look into that and did
[06:43]
not find this and and then this tragedy
[06:45]
happened today had it been better
[06:47]
searched it this tragedy could have been
[06:49]
avoided. So, so all these trails apart
[06:53]
from taking the hikes further away from
[06:55]
the border, those trails have to be very
[06:58]
uh deeply looked into. And again, advice
[07:02]
to the children or to the adults or to
[07:04]
anyone going there, you see something
[07:06]
suspicious, do not pick it up because
[07:08]
this may be the outcome of
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