Children, teens account for a third of dead in Israel stampede |

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men take part in a funeral ceremony in Jerusalem for a victim of the stampede during a religious gathering in northern Israel.GIL COHEN-MAGEN/AFP

Thirteen-year-old “Azi”, a “sweet” boy who loved learning, was one of at least 16 children and teens among the 45 killed in a stampede at a Jewish pilgrimage in Israel.

The tragedy on Friday on Mount Meron in northern Israel has been called one of the worst peacetime disasters since the Jewish state was founded in 1948.

It impacted scores of young people drawn to what has been described as a spiritual…