Israeli schoolchildren reportedly posed for selfies with an unexploded bomb, passed it between them and carried it in a backpack before it detonated, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring 24 others during a school trip near the Lebanese border.
The incident on Monday has exposed serious questions over the Israeli authorities' failure to protect children from unexploded ordnance in an area devastated by years of war, with an initial investigation revealing that a nearby restricted zone had neither been physically sealed off nor clearly marked to prevent public access.
According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, students from ORT Ma'alot religious high school discovered the munition while hiking near the border, with some handling the device and taking photographs with it before the deadly explosion.
"He was playing with the bomb," one student told Haaretz, describing the actions of his classmate who was killed.
"Some of the kids told him to leave it, but no one thought it contained explosives. We continued along the trail and stopped to pray at one point. After the prayer, he played with it again, put it back in his bag, and then there was a massive explosion."
The Israeli military alleged that the device was a cluster munition fired by Hezbollah during the war, although its origin has not been independently established.
The explosion occurred in the Manara mountain range, approximately 50 to 100 metres from the Lebanese border, according to Israeli newspaper Maariv.
The site was close to an Israeli military post that had been manned by combat engineering troops during the war and subjected to heavy Hezbollah fire.
Despite the area's proximity to military positions and the known danger posed by unexploded munitions, students were permitted to hike nearby.
Israeli authorities under fire over deadly negligence
Israel's education ministry said on Tuesday that it was investigating whether the students had strayed from their approved route before the explosion.
The ministry maintained that the planned route had been authorised and complied with restrictions imposed by the Jewish National Fund, also known as KKL-JNF, which manages the area.
"The planned route did not pass through the prohibited area," the ministry said.
It added that safety instructions issued before the trip explicitly prohibited students from touching unexploded ordnance or ammunition and required them to report any discoveries.
However, KKL-JNF officials told Haaretz that the dangerous area had been designated off-limits in May 2025 but remained physically accessible, without clear signs or barriers to prevent people from entering.
The organisation said it had informed the Education Ministry of the closure, although it lacked the authority to approve school trips or physically seal off the area.
Schools are required to submit planned routes to the ministry for approval before each excursion.
The ministry acknowledged knowing that KKL-JNF had closed a dangerous route along the Ramim Ridge and said it had approved an alternative route taking that restriction into account.
However, the approved route passed close to another area closed because of unexploded ordnance, where access remained unrestricted.
Investigators are now examining whether the students deviated from their approved route or whether the ministry itself incorrectly defined the route.
The revelations have raised questions not only about the supervision of the students but also about the decision to authorise school excursions near an active military frontier littered with unexploded weapons.
'Ignorance and negligence'
In a sharply critical commentary published by Haaretz, columnist Rogel Alpher condemned the extraordinary complacency of Israeli society and authorities in treating a heavily militarised border region as an ordinary recreational destination.
Alpher questioned how high school students could be permitted to hike along an authorised trail near the Lebanese border as though the past three years of war had never happened.
He described how the students reportedly passed the munition around, placed it in their bags, photographed themselves holding it and sent the images to their parents.
The behaviour, he argued, exposed failures extending beyond the children themselves to the adults and institutions responsible for their safety.
"At least some staff were aware of what was happening, yet they let it happen. They failed to grasp the extent of the danger. The impression is that they did not guide the students, nor had anyone guided them," Alpher wrote.
"This hike, like the ones Israelis take there during the holidays, reflects ignorance and negligence."
He also accused Israel's Education Ministry of failing to instil even a basic understanding of the dangers posed by unexploded ordnance, arguing that the incident reflected a broader detachment from the realities of Israel's continuing war on Lebanon.
Alpher questioned whether Israelis had failed to recognise that fighting was continuing across the border, where Israeli forces occupy parts of southern Lebanon and remain engaged in military operations.
He also linked the school trip to the Zionist conception of hiking as "a continuation of the battle by civilian means", in which walking across territory becomes a symbolic assertion of sovereignty and control.
The students' decision to treat an unexploded munition as a souvenir of war reflected a wider culture of complacency.
"The selfies show that the students knew it was a bomb. Perhaps they saw it as a war souvenir, a trophy of war," he wrote.
"Their tragic complacency is part of the broader complacency that surrounds this blind state," he added, accusing Israel's political, military and economic institutions of ignoring realities that could ultimately have devastating consequences.
War continues across the Lebanese border
The deadly incident has also drawn attention to the contrasting realities on either side of the Israel-Lebanon border, where unexploded ordnance continues to threaten civilian lives.
Dozens of towns and settlements in northern Israel were evacuated during the conflict, while areas affected by the fighting remain contaminated by unexploded munitions.
Across the border, Lebanese civilians continue to face the deadly consequences of Israeli bombardment, with unexploded Israeli ordnance threatening farmers and residents attempting to return to their homes.
The Israeli military continues to occupy parts of southern Lebanon, having expanded its invasion since fighting with Hezbollah resumed in March.
Israeli airstrikes, shelling and demolitions have continued in southern Lebanon despite a framework agreement signed between Beirut and Tel Aviv in June.
On Monday, Lebanon's Health Ministry said Israeli attacks over the past three years had killed 8,596 people and wounded 30,660, many of them civilians.