A court in central Israel on Wednesday extended the detention of a 63‑year‑old Be'er Sheva man by six days in connection with an alleged attempted child abduction, and prosecutors said there is now reasonable suspicion linking him to the 2024 disappearance of 9‑year‑old Haymanut Kasau.
In extending the suspect’s remand, Judge Dorit Saban‑Noy told the court that “a reasonable suspicion connects him to both cases,” and warned there is “a genuine concern that he might interfere with the investigation.”
Security camera footage of the attempted kidnapping in Be'er Sheva
(Video: from social media)
The suspect, a long‑time resident of Be'er Sheva, was previously known to the family of the girl who was nearly abducted in Be'er Sheva earlier this week. He presented an alibi during questioning, saying that when Kasau disappeared “I was no longer at the immigration center in Safed, but had moved to Be'er Sheva.” He said he arrived in Israel years ago and initially stayed at the immigration center in Safed with many other Ethiopian families before relocating with his own family to Be'er Sheva in 2022.
The development comes as the investigation into Kasau’s disappearance — a case that has gripped the country for more than 661 days — was transferred to Israel Police’s elite Lahav 433 national crime unit, Police Commissioner Danny Levy announced Tuesday. Authorities have not disclosed the reasons behind the transfer.
Kasau, who was 9 at the time, has been classified as missing since she disappeared from the immigration center on Feb. 25, 2024, in Safed. She was last seen at the facility on Tzahal Street.
The attempted abduction reportedly occurred in Be'er Sheva and involved another girl who had previously lived in Safed and was a close friend of Kasau’s, public broadcaster Keshet News reported Tuesday. According to the report, the suspect went to the girl’s home and caused her to flee screaming, an incident captured on a neighbor’s security camera and investigated as an attempted kidnapping.
Kasau’s family has confirmed they know the suspect and his family. Police have not yet publicly outlined the full scope of evidence linking the suspect to Kasau’s disappearance. The court order extending his detention gives investigators more time to question him.
The girl pictured in the surveillance video from Be'er Sheva said Wednesday that the suspect tried to pull her out of her home and that he is “a friend of my father,” though she said she does not know whether he is connected to Kasau's disappearance.
“I knew him from Safed, everyone knows him,” the girl said outside her home. She said the suspect knocked on her door and entered. “I gave him water and he drank it and went to the bathroom. When he came back, he said, ‘Come, I’ll tell you something.’ He hugged me, grabbed my hand and I opened the door and went out, and he grabbed my hand. I screamed and ran out of the house. He’s a friend of my father, who is now in Ethiopia. I know Haymanut — she’s a friend of my sister,” she said. When asked if she had been present when Kasau disappeared, she replied, “I was not in those situations.”
In his police interrogation, the 63‑year‑old Be'er Sheva resident acknowledged entering the home and said he knows the girl and her family well. He described the girl’s father as “like a brother” and said he visited him. The girl said her father was in Ethiopia at the time and her mother was at work.
In the northern city of Safed, neighbor Leviah, who lives near the Kasau family, spoke about the community’s reaction to the suspect’s arrest. “It’s good that after two years a suspect has been detained. We have faith that Haymanut disappeared and is still alive. All avenues of investigation must be pursued and everyone should imagine it is their own daughter who is missing. The calm in this country when a child disappeared nearly two years ago is unsettling and simply worrying,” she said.
The suspect’s attorneys, Ran Alon and Awaka Zana, issued a statement following the extension of his detention. “Because the court has issued a gag order on the entire case, we cannot comment on the substance of the allegations. But I can say he is a normal man with no criminal record. In our view, this matter has been blown out of proportion. We are seeing a mountain made out of a molehill, and we hope this matter will be resolved soon,” they said.