Funeral held for teen boy, ‘full of life,’ who was killed in Hezbollah munitions blast

Elazar Yair Wilensky, 13, who was killed in an explosion of unexploded Hezbollah ordnance during a high school trip near the Lebanon border earlier this week, was buried in Moshav Hosen on Wednesday.

His mother, Yehudit, said Elazar’s life was “too short, but it was so full and beautiful. You loved life, and life loved you in return. You loved nature and trips from an early age.”

Amid questions as to why the school group was apparently hiking in a restricted area, Education Minister Yoav Kisch vowed that the boy’s family would be given answers.

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“Yair was a boy full of joy. He had been waiting for this trip and was happy that it was happening,” Kisch told mourners. “He was a good friend, a talented athlete, a champion in fencing.

“This trip, which was all about joy and love for the country, ended in great disaster and tragedy,” Kisch said. “I want to tell the family, the entire State of Israel stands with you and will support you. Secondly, we will examine this painful disaster… We will tell you what happened so that you will not be left with any questions.”

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Minister Ze’ev Elkin, whose portfolio includes responsibility for the rehabilitation of the north, was also present at the funeral.

הגעתי הבוקר לישיבה התיכונית אורט מעלות, שאיבדה את תלמידה אלעזר יאיר וילנסקי ז״ל באירוע הקשה אתמול בצפון, שבו נפצעו גם תלמידים ואנשי צוות.

עמדתי מקרוב על המענים הרגשיים והמקצועיים הניתנים לתלמידים, לצוותי החינוך ולמשפחות.

בהמשך ביקרתי בבית משפחת וילנסקי והבעתי את תנחומיי על… pic.twitter.com/uPbhJYwJSX

— יואב קיש Yoav Kisch (@YoavKisch) October 13, 2026

Rabbi Elazar Baruch, the head of the ORT Ma’alot yeshiva high school Wilensky attended, remembered the student as being “full of big dreams of sports, victories and record-breaking.”

“How is it possible to eulogize a boy full of life? The heart refuses to believe, and the mind refuses to grasp the size of the tragedy,” he said.

The deadly blast occurred around 3:30 p.m. on Monday, when a group of students and teachers from the ORT Ma’alot school were hiking the Naftali Mountains Forest scenic route in the Ramim Ridge area.

A preliminary investigation indicated that students had found the unexploded submunition from a Hezbollah Grad rocket and passed it between them. One them then placed the ordnance in his bag. At a certain point, it exploded. According to Ynet, the explosion occurred while the students were stopped at the Pe’er Observation Point in the Upper Galilee to eat.

Along with Wilensky’s death, 24 school students and teachers were wounded, some of them seriously.

A friend of Wilensky’s from yeshiva addressed him: “You were a huge light for us. I can’t stomach talking about you in the past tense. Only on Sunday I saw you, with your playful smile, and I gave you a final hug. You brightened our lives and made everyone happy. Everyone loved you.”

Another friend said at the funeral that Wilensky was “murdered at the hands of Hezbollah.”

“Yes, it happened after some time, but the intention was to kill Jews,” he added.

The school hike — a 3-day trip along the Israel Trail — was approved by authorities, despite a sign posted by the KKL-JNF Jewish National Fund warning of “war damage,” and announcing an “absolute ban on entering forests and campsites.”

KKL-JNF chairman Eyal Ostrinsky told Army Radio on Tuesday that the trail was closed, and that he didn’t understand why the Education Ministry had approved the route for the hike.

The incident prompted both an investigation into how that decision was made, and a request from the Education Ministry that the Israel Defense Forces check all trails along the Lebanon border for any further ordnance.

During the recent war, Hezbollah launched several Grad rockets containing dozens of BRB1-type (also known as A-09) submunitions at northern Israel. The rockets spread the submunitions over wide areas, and they often do not explode on impact. Images from Monday indicated this was the type of ordnance encountered by the group.

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