Child, 7, stabbed to death, 4-year-old wounded in Beit Shemesh; neighbor arrested

A young boy was killed, and another was injured in a stabbing in Beit Shemesh on Monday that was suspected by police to have been carried out by a neighbor of the family.

The two children, 7-year-old Hillel Mordechai Dadon and his 4-year-old cousin, were attacked while their parents were out of the house. The stabbing took place during a birthday party for Dadon, according to reports.

The boys had reportedly been left in the care of a 15-year-old relative. A social worker was called to the scene to provide care for the teenager, the Walla news site said.

Police said they had arrested one suspect, around 25 years old and not previously known to the police, at the scene. They said the incident was not being treated as a terror attack.

Haaretz, citing police, said the suspect was a resident of the neighborhood. Walla said neighbors reported seeing him cleaning a bloody knife, which was seized by police.

A seven-day gag order was placed on details of the investigation.

The father of one of the boys reportedly found them in an inflatable swimming pool upon his return home, at around 4:40 p.m. Police said they had penetrating wounds.

The pair were rushed to the Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital in Jerusalem, with the older boy in critical condition and the younger one in serious condition.

Shortly afterward, Beit Shemesh Mayor Shmuel Greenberg said one of the boys had died of his wounds, and Hadassah Ein Kerem confirmed that the 7-year-old had been pronounced dead on arrival. It said that the 4-year-old underwent surgery, and upgraded his condition from serious to moderate.

“We arrived at a shocking scene,” a Magen David Adom paramedic recounted to the press after the incident. “There was a lot of commotion outside. They led us to two children, who suffered serious bodily injuries, including an unconscious 7-year-old boy, without vital signs, and a conscious 4-year-old.”

He said the medical team administered CPR to the older child while en route to the hospital, and provided the younger child with “life-saving medical treatment.”

According to reports, police were examining the possibility that the suspect is mentally unstable, and the Ynet news site reported that they have not ruled out the possibility that the attack was the result of an inter-family feud.

In a statement, the Israel Police said that Jerusalem District Commander Avshalom Peled visited the scene of the attack along with regional and district police officials, where they conducted a situational assessment.