Rescuers said that an eight-year-old boy was killed and at least eight other hikers were injured after a rockfall at Nahal David river in the Ein Gedi nature reserve near the Dead Sea this morning, Thursday.

The Israeli Air Force's search and rescue Unit 669 was dispatched to the scene.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service stated that the eight-year-old boy was pronounced dead at the scene. He was later identified as Yehuda Levi, a resident of the community of Hamdat in the Jordan Valley.

The ambulance service also noted that its medics, along with those from Unit 669, treated eight other people at the scene, including girls aged between four and twelve in moderate condition, a woman in her forties with minor to moderate injuries, a 22-year-old man, an elderly Italian tourist in moderate condition, and four others, including children, who sustained minor injuries.

The rockfall occurred along the Nahal David river path, about a 25-minute walk from the nearest access road. The rescuers said this is a complicated area; we arrived quickly, left the ambulances in the parking lot by the stream, and walked to the scene with the medical equipment.

Laavi Bar David (eight years old), who sustained minor injuries, told Israel's Channel 12, "We reached the waterfall, and suddenly the rocks fell on us. I got hit by a rock on my head, and my sisters were hurt too."

Laavi added that he bandaged his sister with his shirt, "I know that's what you do when you need to stop the bleeding. We didn’t have anything else, and that’s what I did."

Yontan, Laavi's father, said, "I saw big rocks falling, it happened in a split second, all at once, without any warning. I was hit by rocks on the ground, and there was a full cloud, and not everyone could see anything at first."

The family had come to hike in the stream, and one hiker who was at the scene told Ynet that there was a landslide and they were on the path. The whole family was injured.

"I was outside when they brought in the father and the three daughters who could walk on their own. They had scratches and a shirt soaked in blood. At first, it was terrifying because they couldn’t find the mother, the eldest daughter, and the son as well. The uncertainty was horrifying."