At least 20 injured in northern Israel explosion

A blast caused by unexploded ordnance in northern Israel near the Lebanese border has injured approximately 20 people, police say.

Israel’s Magen David Adom said paramedics were treating “eight casualties in serious and moderate condition, as well as several additional casualties in mild condition” following the explosion on Monday, which police said occurred near the community of Neot Mordechai, between Kibbutz Manara and Kibbutz Yiftach.

 Police officers from the Kiryat Shmona station (Northern District) are on-site, securing and cordoning off the area, while bomb disposal experts investigate the circumstances and source of the explosion.

Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh, reporting from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank said, the explosion happened around several Israelis who were on a picnic or a hike in the area, on the border with Lebanon, adding that some of the injured are described to be in critical condition.