4-year-old drowns in pool, hours before start of Passover

A four-year-old boy drowned in a guesthouse pool in the northern town of Katzrin on Wednesday, hours before the Passover holiday began.

Paramedics were called to the scene and found the child lying unconscious next to the pool, where they tried to resuscitate him.

After over an hour of attempting to save the boy, they were forced to declare his death.

According to data from the Beterem organization for children’s safety, 16 children died from drowning in 2022 — half of them under the age of four. Between 2013-2022, 185 children drowned.

Orly Silbinger, the head of Beterem, urged parents to exercise care, warning that drownings can happen quickly during lapses in attention, in a statement on Wednesday following the tragedy.

“Don’t keep your eyes off your children when they’re around water. Appoint an adult to be responsible for watching over children within reaching distance. Don’t go on a family vacation before making sure that the pool is fenced with a gate that locks automatically, and that home pools are emptied immediately after use,” Silbinger advised.

“If it is not possible to empty it, the pool should be fenced so that a child can’t access it without supervision,” she added.

Later Wednesday, a 30-year-old man drowned at the Charles Clore Beach in Tel Aviv. Passers-by spotted the man, pulled him out of the water and called for help. Paramedics arrived at the scene and sought to resuscitate the man but were forced to pronounce him dead shortly thereafter.