Toddler drowns in pond near Zikim beach

A three-year-old boy drowns at a pond next to a beach in southern Israel.

The boy, from the Bedouin town of Tel Sheva, near Beersheba, drowns at Zikim beach, just north of Gaza’s northern border.

He is brought to Barzilai Medical Center in critical condition, but medics are unable to resuscitate him, and his death is declared after several hours, medics say.

Medics responding to call found the boy unconscious, lying next a “pond” adjacent to Zikim’s beach area. There is a reservoir nearby, and part of the sand dunes near the public beach sometimes fill with water, but remain separated from the ocean.

The ponds do not have lifeguards and have been fenced off, but some visitors go into the water anyway.

Several years ago a 45-year-old man drowned in one of the ponds while rescuing a woman and three children.