Serious questions are being raised about the safety procedures surrounding a yeshiva outing in northern Israel that ended in tragedy Monday, when Elazar Yair Vilensky z”l was killed and numerous other talmidim were injured in an explosion believed to have been caused by unexploded Hezbollah ordnance.

New reporting has focused on whether the route taken by the students underwent the necessary safety inspections before the outing, and whether the absence of a municipal school security officer contributed to gaps in oversight.

The outing, organized for students of Yeshivas Maalot, took place near Kibbutz Neot Mordechai in the Upper Galilee, an area that has faced extensive rocket and missile attacks during the fighting with Hezbollah.

According to the preliminary findings reported by Israeli authorities, the explosion was apparently caused by unexploded cluster munition left behind during the conflict. Investigators are examining how the students reached the location and what caused the device to detonate.

The latest revelations have added a new dimension to the investigation, shifting attention from the explosion itself to the decisions made before the group entered the area.

According to a report aired by Channel 12, the municipality of Maalot-Tarshiha had been operating without a school security officer after the previous official, Eldad Vaknin, resigned earlier this month.

Vaknin had reportedly raised concerns about failures to follow required school security procedures before leaving his position.

The report raised questions about whether the absence of a designated official responsible for overseeing school security affected the approval and supervision of the outing.

It remains unclear whether the vacancy had any direct connection to the tragedy, and investigators have not established that the presence of a municipal security officer would have prevented the explosion.

The Education Ministry has maintained that the outing received official authorization, but emphasized that the approved route did not include the location where the explosion occurred.

That distinction has become central to the investigation, as authorities seek to determine whether the students deviated from their approved route and, if so, under what circumstances.

The ministry has also said that its safety instructions explicitly prohibit students from touching suspicious objects or unexploded munitions.

However, students who participated in the outing reportedly said they had not received specific warnings about the danger of unexploded ordnance in the area.

Investigators are now examining what instructions were provided to the group before the trip and whether the students and accompanying staff were adequately informed about the hazards remaining from the war.

Another issue concerns the condition of the area where the explosion occurred.

The Jewish National Fund reportedly stated that entry into the location had been prohibited because of wartime damage and related dangers.

Nevertheless, no physical barrier had been installed to prevent people from entering.

The absence of such a barrier has raised questions about whether warning signs and access restrictions were sufficient to protect visitors, particularly school groups unfamiliar with the terrain.

Reports also indicate that no preliminary safety inspection of the actual route taken by the students had been carried out, although the precise circumstances remain under investigation.

The municipality of Maalot-Tarshiha has rejected attempts to connect the resignation of its former school security officer to the explosion before the facts have been established.

Municipal officials have cautioned against drawing conclusions about responsibility while investigators are still examining the incident.

According to the preliminary investigation, one of the students found what is believed to have been a Hezbollah cluster submunition during a stop along the route and placed it inside a bag. The group reportedly continued walking for approximately two hours before the device exploded while the students had stopped to daven.

The explosion killed Vilensky, a ninth-grade student, and injured 24 other students and staff members. Several of the injured suffered serious wounds, requiring emergency evacuation by helicopters and ambulances to hospitals across northern Israel.

The tragedy has prompted conflicting accounts from the Education Ministry and the Jewish National Fund concerning responsibility for approving access to the area.

Education officials maintain that the authorized itinerary did not include the location where the explosion occurred. The Jewish National Fund has said the area was closed to visitors because of wartime hazards and that it had not participated in approving the outing.

A warning sign prohibited entry, but the location was not physically blocked off.

Meanwhile, former municipal school security officer Eldad Vaknin has publicly alleged that he resigned after encountering serious failures to observe security regulations. He specifically accused municipal leadership of permitting unauthorized workers to enter areas occupied by students without proper supervision.

Vaknin said he had raised concerns about security procedures before the tragedy and had faced pressure rather than receiving support.

Those allegations concern broader school security practices and have not been established as contributing factors in the explosion.

The latest reporting has intensified scrutiny of the municipality, the Education Ministry and the procedures used to approve school outings in areas affected by the fighting with Hezbollah.

Police are investigating the circumstances of the explosion, including the students’ movements, the approval process and whether required precautions were followed before the group entered the area.

The findings will be particularly important for schools planning outings in northern Israel, where unexploded rockets, missiles and cluster munitions remain a serious danger long after the original attacks.

The investigation has yet to determine who was responsible for the apparent failures in oversight or whether the tragedy could have been prevented.