On the afternoon of October 12 a dud exploded on an annual trip of the Ort Maalot yeshiva high school on the Ramim Ridge, near the Lebanon border. A 14-year-old boy was killed, and 24 students and teachers were injured, three of them seriously (Reuters, Globes, Maariv, Haaretz, Ynet). In the first hours about 20 injured were reported. After a preliminary check at the scene, the IDF assessed that the explosion was most likely caused by a bomblet from a cluster bomb that had not exploded. Globes and Haaretz attribute it to Hezbollah, and the police said that a student put the object in his bag. Ynet reported that it was checked whether the object was left in the field by security forces or was fired by Hezbollah and did not explode. The education minister halted trips on the northern border for 48 hours.
The incident raises questions about clearing areas near the border of duds and about approving routes for student trips, and in any case it harms the sense of security of families in the north.
Parents and schools in the north should check who approved the route and what the escorts were instructed. Anyone who encounters a suspicious object should not touch it, move away and notify the police.
Army and government officials stress that the trip and the route were approved, and that the guidelines included a warning about duds (Maariv).
Critics point out that the Knesset subcommittee on mine clearance convened only twice (Globes), and that the boys held the object for more than an hour without instruction (Ynet).
The reports are still partial: the origin of the bomblet, who approved the route and when the escorts were warned have not yet been determined. It is worth following the findings of the IDF and Education Ministry reviews, and the decision on resuming trips after the 48 hours.
Reuters, Ynet, Haaretz, Maariv, Israel Hayom, Globes, Le Monde (October 12, 2026)
14-year-old boy killed when a dud explodes on a school trip near the Lebanon border; 24 injured
The education minister halted trips in the north for 48 hours. The IDF assesses that it was a bomblet from a cluster bomb that failed to explode, and its origin is still under review.
On the afternoon of October 12, a dud, that is, a munition that failed to explode at the time, exploded on the annual trip of students of the Ort Maalot yeshiva high school on the Ramim Ridge, not far from the Lebanon border. A 14-year-old boy, an eighth-grader, was killed. According to Israel’s ambulance service, quoted by Reuters, 24 people were injured, students and teachers, and according to Haaretz and Ynet three of them seriously. In the first hours about 20 injured were reported (Haaretz, Ynet), and the number rose later to 24 (Reuters, Globes, Maariv).
In a preliminary check by soldiers at the scene, the IDF assessed that the explosion was most likely caused by a bomblet from a cluster bomb that had not exploded (IDF statement on Telegram). According to Globes and Haaretz, it was a Hezbollah bomblet left in the field since the war. Police said, according to Haaretz, that the blast occurred after a student put the object in his bag. Ynet reported that the IDF is checking whether the object was left in the field by security forces or was fired by Hezbollah and did not explode, since the area once served as an army staging area.
At the hospital they described, according to Ynet, heroic treatment at the scene: one boy performed resuscitation on his friend, and another asked his father, in a video call, for instructions on a tourniquet. Ynet also reported that the boys held the object for more than an hour and were given no instruction on exposure to ordnance, and Israel Hayom quotes witnesses: “They took photos with the dud, and it exploded in the bag.” According to Ynet and Maariv, a student found the dud and put it in his bag; the injured were evacuated, among other places, to the Galilee Medical Center.
Prime Minister Netanyahu visited the wounded at Rambam, and a 14-year-old boy told him, according to Ynet: “I saw a friend hurt, I tried to help him.” Michael Shoshan, a teacher at the yeshiva who lost his son in the war, told Israel Hayom: “We have not yet recovered from the loss of my son Yair, we do not know how to contain this.”
Education Minister Kisch said the trip and the route had been approved in advance, and according to Maariv the briefing included a warning about duds. He announced a halt to trips on the northern border for 48 hours and a re-examination of the guidelines (Ynet, Maariv). Globes reports that the Knesset subcommittee on mine clearance and duds, chaired by MK Nissim Vaturi, has convened only twice. Israel Hayom asks who will investigate the disaster: the police, the IDF, the Education Ministry or a government commission, and it has not yet been said who will do so.
Background: a cluster bomb carries inside it dozens or hundreds of small bomblets and scatters them over a wide area. Some of the bomblets do not explode on impact, and then stay on the ground for years and sometimes look like a small, unimportant metal object. Any touch is dangerous, including by someone who wants to photograph it or show it to friends. So the usual instruction in such areas is to stay away from any suspicious object and notify the security forces.
DailyDrop notes: the boy’s name was not given in the reports available to us and we are not publishing it. The origin of the bomblet, IDF or Hezbollah, is still under review. The casualty numbers changed during the day, and the later number, 24, appears here. Questions of responsibility are open: who approved the route, who is responsible for clearing the area, and what the escorts knew about the danger.