Tragic Incident at Unlicensed Jerusalem Daycare Claims Two Baby Lives

Two infants died and 53 babies and toddlers were injured to varying degrees in an incident at an unlicensed Jerusalem daycare on Monday, prompting the arrest of three of the caregivers working there. The cause of the deadly incident was not immediately clear, although Hebrew-language media reported that police investigators were examining whether it was linked to a faulty heating system in the illegal daycare, which operated out of several adjacent apartments on Ha’Mem Gimel Street in Jerusalem’s Haredi-majority Romema neighborhood. While the incident was initially suspected to have involved hazardous materials, police said they ruled that out as a cause. Three caregivers were detained for questioning, police said, as the investigation continued. The Magen David Adom and United Hatzalah emergency services initially received an alert from the daycare about an infant girl, aged around three months, who was unresponsive and did not have a pulse. Upon their arrival at the daycare, medical teams were presented with a second baby, a boy of 4 months, also unresponsive and in critical condition. The two were rushed to Hadassah Hospital and the Shaare Zedek Medical Center while undergoing CPR but were pronounced dead upon arrival. According to the ultra-Orthodox Behadrei Haredim news site, Monday was the first day that one of the deceased babies attended the daycare. At the same time, teams from the Israel Police and the Fire and Rescue Service worked to evacuate the remaining 53 children from the daycare, all of whom were exhibiting varying symptoms of respiratory distress. The number of babies entrusted to the daycare was not immediately clear to rescue services, one United Hatzalah member told Ynet, and only became apparent while they were performing CPR on the two infants and began hearing cries from inside the apartment complex. “We heard children screaming, we went in and checked and what did we find? That there were children in closets, in strollers, everywhere, hidden on top of one another with blankets,” he said. Other medics and paramedics recounted similar information, telling news outlets that at least one child was found sleeping in a bathroom, close to the toilet. They said that the air conditioner was operating at a very high temperature, described by Ynet as “life-threatening.” Footage broadcast by Channel 13 news also appeared to show overcrowding. The two deceased infants had reportedly been sleeping in the same room, in a separate area from the other children. Rescuers told Hebrew news outlets that they had run in and out of the building, carrying multiple babies and young children at a time. Parents who rushed to the scene as the incident unfolded were unable to locate their children in the chaos, eyewitnesses recounted to the Walla news site. “Mothers were running after the ambulances looking for their children,” one eyewitness said, as another recounted that a woman had approached her car and asked her to chase down one of the ambulances as it drove her child away. The National Council for the Child, in a statement issued as the incident unfolded, demanded an immediate investigation by the Israel Police and Education Ministry into “not only the serious negligence, but the issue of the daycare’s operating license, as well.” “Operating early childhood frameworks without licensing, supervision, and mandatory standards is nothing less than a life sentence,” it warned.