Health Ministry Director General Professor Hezi Levy on Friday morning visited Ziv Medical Center in Tzfat, and said that the "writing was on the wall" ahead of the Meron disaster.

In an interview with 103 FM Radio, Prof. Levy said: "Here and there more patients are arriving on their own. In general, right now there are 17 injured people hospitalized, some of them children and some adults. There is no danger to life. No one is in critical condition, as far as I know - including the six people who were reported to be - that is an exaggerated number."

"I am gathering information on the situation. As of now the seriously injured patients are mostly at Rambam Hospital, where they were flown with the help of IAF helicopters from Ziv Hospital, so that they could be treated for neurosurgical injuries. There are injured in Nahariya Hospital, in Poriya, and a seriously injured person in Hadassah Ein Kerem."

The tragedy, he added, could have been prevented: "In hindsight we can say that the writing was on the wall. The events at Mount Meron have been going on for years. There are those who claim that this year there were less people because they tried, which did not happen, to go according to the coronavirus plan."

"When there is a tragedy we always say that 'the writing was on the wall,' but we need to investigate how they prepared from a safety perspective, and the security of the worshipers and those celebrating on Mount Meron. These things will be investigated when the time comes by the authorities. I suggest that we do this in an authorized fashion, after we comfort the families and bury the corpses, to my sorrow, and treat the wounded."