Live Update 
From the Liveblog of
Monday, August 17, 2026
From the Liveblog of
Monday, August 17, 2026
2 young boys stabbed in Beit Shemesh, 1 in critical condition; suspect arrested, terror not suspected
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Illustrative: A police patrol car in Jerusalem, September 20, 2017. (Times of Israel/Stuart Winer)
Two boys aged 4 and 7 were found stabbed in an apartment in Beit Shemesh today, police say. A suspect, reportedly a neighbor of the boys, has been arrested.
The incident is not being treated as an act of terrorism.
Hebrew media outlets report that the boys’ father found them in the family swimming pool and that police believe the suspect may be mentally unstable.
Medics rushed the children to the Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital, with the older child in critical condition and the younger one in serious condition, Magen David Adom says.
One medic quoted by the ambulance service calls the crime scene “horrifying” and says there was “a large crowd outside.”
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