"The writing on the wall, we must not wait for the next disaster": The State Comptroller's report that warned of the failure

Following the dud explosion disaster at Ramat Ram Ridge, in which one person was killed and 19 were injured, the State Comptroller's report from May 2025 is being re-examined. The report warned of a lack of evacuation plans, budgetary delays, and danger to human life, but focused on closed industrial and military compounds, not on clearing duds in open combat zones.

The disaster at Ramat Ram Ridge, in which one person was killed and 19 students and teachers from the middle school of the Ort Ma'alot Yeshiva were injured by an ammunition dud explosion, has brought back to the forefront the issue of Israel's systemic handling of duds. In May 2025, State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman published a scathing report criticizing the conduct of government ministries and warning of insufficient treatment. The report focused on the IMI compound in Yavne, where extensive duds and explosives remain. The Comptroller revealed that the Ministry of Defense had no orderly plan for clearing the compound, and a year earlier the Israel National Mine Action Authority described the site as a "ticking time bomb." The Comptroller found that the state spends about 1.8 million shekels annually on security and property tax at the Yavne compound, but does not allocate resources to complete its clearance. However, security establishment sources emphasize a fundamental difference: the report focused on duds in closed industrial and military compounds, and did not examine the clearance of missile and rocket duds in open areas following the war. The incident at Ramat Ram Ridge, a combat zone against Hezbollah that had received hiking approval, concerns the activities of the Home Front Command and the police bomb disposal unit.