Daycare manager, 2 caregivers charged with over 400 acts of abuse against babies, toddlers

Prosecutors say 17 babies and toddlers were subjected to choking, restraint and force-feeding at daycare in Ariel; one of the mothers: ‘My son wakes up screaming 15 times a night’

By Noam Lehmann and ToI Staff Today, 12:52 pm 1
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Parents confront three women accused of abusing children at the Luchik daycare in Ariel as they are quickly escorted from court on November 8, 2026. (Screen capture/Kan 11/X)
Parents confront three women accused of abusing children at the Luchik daycare in Ariel as they are quickly escorted from court on November 8, 2026. (Screen capture/Kan 11/X)

State prosecutors filed an indictment Sunday against the director of a private daycare in the West Bank settlement of Ariel and two caregivers, accusing them of more than 400 acts of abuse and assault against 17 babies and toddlers, some as young as six months old.

Natalia Kisilevsky, 37, who managed the Luchik daycare, and caregivers Daryna Khalupa, 37, and Anna Pagelsky, 40, were charged at the Central District Court in Lod with offenses including abuse of a minor or helpless person, assault of a helpless person by a responsible adult, and aggravated assault.

Prosecutors asked that the three remain in custody until the end of legal proceedings.

Footage from the courtroom posted by the Kan public broadcaster showed several distraught parents confronting the three defendants and shouting curses as security personnel led them away.

The indictment, filed by Yehonatan Eilon-Hirsch of the Central District Prosecutor’s Office, alleged an unusually severe and prolonged pattern of violence against babies and toddlers.

According to the indictment, one alleged method involved obstructing the children’s airways with hands, paper, or cloth while holding the backs of their necks to prevent them from moving.

The defendants allegedly shook the children, bent their heads and bodies forward, and forced them against mattresses for extended periods. In some cases, prosecutors alleged, they repeatedly obstructed the children’s breathing even after they began choking, turned red, and struggled for air, leaving some dazed and causing them to lose their balance.

Another alleged method involved tightly wrapping babies and toddlers in cloth or blankets with their arms pinned against their bodies, leaving them unable to move and placing them on their stomachs.

Prosecutors said Pagelsky and Khalupa sometimes force-fed children while they were restrained by tilting their heads backward, using physical pressure to open their jaws, and rapidly forcing pureed food into their mouths. They allegedly then wiped the children’s faces aggressively and painfully with paper.

Children were also allegedly locked alone in a closed, dark room for significant periods as punishment, without supervision and despite crying and trying to get out.

The prosecution also accused the defendants of psychologically abusing other children at the daycare by repeatedly carrying out the alleged violence in front of them. Some children cried or approached peers who had been harmed, the indictment said.

In its request to keep the women detained until the end of proceedings, the Central District Prosecutor’s Office said they posed a high risk because of the nature and frequency of the alleged acts, the young ages of the victims, and what it described as the blatant betrayal of the parents’ trust.

“Instead of being a safe, protective, and developmental environment, the daycare became a place where the toddlers lived in constant fear of the next attack,” the statement read.

A police source told the Walla news outlet, “I watched, and tears rolled down my eyes,” the source said. “Everyone’s heart broke. This is a case unlike anything we have seen, even in the most serious cases.”

One mother whose roughly 18-month-old son attended the daycare told the Ynet news outlet that the child had spent just 26 days there but had changed dramatically.

“My son wakes up screaming 15 times a night,” she said. “He sees the children from the daycare and becomes anxious — he is simply 180 degrees from what he was. His self-confidence has vanished; I got back a post-traumatic boy.”

Ynet reported that the mother had begun to suspect something was wrong after noticing injuries. “After the first injury I said, ‘Ok, maybe he fell.’ But the second one didn’t look right to me, and I said I would start following it — and the police simply got there before me,” she said.

Channel 12 News reported that investigators also uncovered messages between Pagelsky and the mother of one child. In one exchange, the caregiver sent the mother a photograph of the child and said he had suffered a scratch while playing outside, adding, “He’s fine, I gave him a hug and ointment.” The mother replied, “My sweet boy, thank you, Anush.”

Former Likud MK Oren Hazan, whose child attended the daycare, told Channel 12 when the allegations first emerged that “they murdered my children’s souls.”

Israel has seen a series of high-profile abuse cases at daycare centers in recent years, many uncovered through security-camera footage and involving very young children.

Last month, police arrested three women working at a preschool in central Israel after they were allegedly filmed forcefully picking up toddlers, slamming them to the ground, pulling them by the ears, and throwing objects at them. The investigation began after an 11-month-old boy was brought to Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba with a bruised ear.

Israel has required most daycare centers caring for seven or more children under age three to install security cameras since September 2020, unless 70 percent of the parents object, following a series of abuse cases that prompted nationwide protests and demands for greater oversight.

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