Explosion in Northern Israel; Students and Teachers Injured

Police say that, based on initial indications, around 20 people were injured by the explosion of unexploded ordnance.

An explosion caused by an unexploded ordnance in northern Israel near the Lebanese border injured about 20 people, police said.

Israel's Magen David Edom said paramedics were treating "eight seriously and moderately injured, as well as several others in mild condition" following Monday's blast, which police said occurred near the community of Neot Mordechai, between Kibbutz Manara and Kibbutz Yeptakh.

Police officers from Kiryat Shmona Station (Northern Region) are on the scene securing and cordoning off the area, while bomb disposal experts are investigating the circumstances and source of the explosion.

According to Noor Oudeh, Al Jazeera network from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, the explosion happened around some Israelis who were having a picnic or walking in the border area with Lebanon, adding that the condition of some of the injured was reported to be serious.

"There is very little detailed information about what happened, what is the source of that explosion, but it is certainly a reminder that the north of Israel, the Upper Galilee and especially the border with Lebanon is still an area where military operations have been carried out, with the deployment of the Israeli army and the use of thousands of munitions in the last 3 years," Odeh said.

Odeh said the explosion has mobilized Israel's political ranks, and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is moving to the region and Israel's National Security Minister Ben Guer is canceling a political engagement that was on his agenda.