He revealed new details about the stampede in Israel

At least 16 children and adolescents were killed, among the 45 killed in Israel, during a stampede during a Jewish pilgrimage season last week.

The “Abu Kabir” National Forensic Medicine Center in Israel said today, Sunday, that it has identified all the 45 dead in the stampede. The youngest victim was 9 years old, and at least 16 victims were 19 years old or younger.

She described Friday’s tragedy on Mount Meron in northern Israel as one of the worst peacetime disasters since the establishment of the Jewish state in 1948, according to Agence France-Presse.

The disaster began Thursday when tens of thousands of pilgrims gathered at the site where Jewish Rabbi Shimon Bar Joshai is believed to be buried.

It was the largest gathering in Israel since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, and attendance far exceeded the Health Ministry’s recommended guidelines for 10,000 people for outdoor gatherings.

Witnesses said after midnight Friday that pilgrims were crowding into a narrow lane that leads away from the site when people slipped, causing a deadly stampede.