Major crimes unit takes over investigation in case of missing girl Haymanut Kasau
After almost two years, police chief orders file on disappeared Ethiopian immigrant, 9, transferred to Lahav 433; possible link reported to attempted kidnapping in Beersheba
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The Israel Police announced Tuesday that the case of missing Ethiopian-Israeli girl Haymanut Kasau has been transferred to the Lahav 433 major crimes unit, almost two years after her disappearance.
At the same time, Channel 12 reported what it called a “dramatic update” in the case, which police have not solved after Kasau, then nine years old and living in Safed, disappeared in February 2024.
However, police did not give a reason for the case being handed to Lahav 433 now, saying only that Police Chief Danny Levy instructed the move following a meeting to discuss the status of the case. Hebrew media outlets cited unnamed police sources as saying there were no particular developments in the case.
The Ynet outlet reported that the status meeting on the case was held last week, at the conclusion of which Levy ordered the case moved to Lahav 433.
According to the Channel 12 report, police have found a new lead in the case after an apparent attempted kidnapping of a young girl in Beersheba on Monday, which was caught on a security camera outside the apartment of a neighbor. The footage was obtained by the network.
The girl is reportedly a friend of Kasau’s, and her family moved from Safed in the north to Beersheba in the south earlier this year.
נסיון חטיפה מחריד מבית בבאר שבע יוצר קשירת קשר להיעלמות היימנוט.
חוקרים חושדים שמדובר באותו חוטף או חבורה של חוטפים. pic.twitter.com/M6nsT21Ftb
— A dios Le pido ???? (@Yaronara) December 16, 2025
In the footage, a man whose face is blurred can be seen approaching the apartment and knocking on the door, which is opened. The man says a few words, but they are not picked up clearly enough by the security camera to decipher, and he appears to reach into the apartment.
The footage freezes momentarily, and, when it resumes, a screaming figure can be seen fleeing out of the apartment and down the hallway as the man chases after her.
Kasau’s relatives told Channel 12 that the man seen in the video is from Safed and that he knows their family. Officers were reportedly still searching for the man.
However, a police source told Channel 12 that Levi transferred the file because he wanted “another set of eyes” to look at the case in the hope of making progress, and “there are no specific developments.”
At the beginning of the month, Kasau’s family met with National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who oversees the police force.
The minister said he plans to speak to Shin Bet chief David Zini in hopes of enlisting the internal security agency to assist in police searches for Kasau, according to a statement from Ben Gvir’s office.
Kasau’s father, Tesfai Kasau, has long urged that his daughter’s disappearance be classified as a kidnapping, rather than just a missing person case. He has accused the government of not doing enough to find his daughter.
Kasau was last seen in security footage at 7:45 p.m. on February 25, 2024, handing out municipal election leaflets outside the Jewish Agency absorption center, where she has lived for the past three years since immigrating with her family from Ethiopia.
Police reportedly collected security footage from dozens of cameras and testimonies from residents but so far have not turned up any indication of the girl’s whereabouts.
Photos of Kasau were shared with Interpol, though police have said authorities do not believe she was taken out of the country.
The Times of Israel Community.