Missing 4-year-old tried to walk home, fell asleep under tree, found by volunteer who got lost

The volunteer who found Yuval Kogen, a missing 4-year-old, following a daylong search says he happened upon the boy after getting lost following hours of looking for him.

The volunteer, Noam Simchi, says in an interview with Channel 12 that he had spent all morning on horseback looking for Yuval, then saw a boy far away resting under a tree. A jeep happened to be passing by, and he loaded the boy onto the vehicle, which took him to safety.

Channel 12 reports that the boy apparently was trying to walk home after getting lost at the beach while with his family. He seems to have walked several kilometers before getting fatigued and falling asleep in the shade.

The boy was conscious but dehydrated and in shock when Simchi found him, he says. Simchi says he then gave the boy cold water and washed his face. He has since been reunited with his family.

“He couldn’t understand the situation, he couldn’t communicate… he was dehydrated, stunned,” Simchi says of Yuval. “I was also really going crazy, I started crying.”

He adds, “I picked him up, I hugged him, I washed his face with cold water that I had on me.”

Simchi, whose interview is interrupted repeatedly by people embracing and congratulating him, praises God for the turn of events and makes several references to Rabbi Nachman of Breslau, a renowned Hasidic leader who lived approximately two centuries ago and has a fervent following in Israel.

דיווח ראשוני: הילד שנאבד בחוף אשקלון נמצא.
יובל נמצא בסביבת ניצנים – 11 ק"מ מאזור ההעלמות (ישראל היום). pic.twitter.com/kDNbuypQX6

— (((IsraelMatzav))) (@IsraelMatzav) July 24, 2026