For seven hours, a five-year-old child was left alone in a car after allegedly being forgotten there by his nursery school teacher who picked him up from his house to take him to school in the morning. Despite attempts to resuscitate him, the child was pronounced dead at the hospital.
The nursery school teacher and her assistant were detained for investigation.
An initial investigation revealed that the nursery school teacher took the child from his house in Abu Gosh to the school in the morning. Apparently, she forgot him in the car. Only seven hours later, at 2 pm, did she remember that the child was in the car. She then proceeded to remove the child from the car and place him under a tree near the school. She and her assistant left the scene.
Passersby reportedly noticed the child lying under the tree and called Magen David Adom.
The medical crew evacuated the child, who was in critical condition, to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem, where he was pronounced dead. The police reported that the child's body showed no signs of trauma or violence.
Magen David Adom paramedic, Azaat Jaber, said to Ynet, "The child was lying at the entrance to the nursery school without a pulse and not breathing. We performed CPR on the child and dispatched a mobile intensive care unit to the spot. We continued the resuscitation efforts until we arrived at the hospital, where, unfortunately, he was pronounced dead."
In July 2008, the country was shocked by news of an eight-month-old baby accidentally left in a car by her father in Kibbutz Shaar Emakim in the north. The baby died of dehydration. In this case, the police and the State Prosecution decided not to put the father on trial.
A few days later, a four-year-old child from east Jerusalem was left in a car and died. That same month, a four-and-a-half-year-old child died after being forgotten in a car by family members in the Shufat neighborhood of Jerusalem.
Ronen Medzini contributed to this report