Toddler dies two days after near-drowning in Etzion Bloc pool

A two-year-old boy who nearly drowned in a pool earlier this week in a settlement in the Etzion Bloc, south of Jerusalem, died Friday in the hospital.

The boy was rushed to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem on Wednesday after he was pulled from the pool without a pulse, and doctors were forced to declare him dead two days later.

He was the second toddler to drown in a pool in Israel in June.

According to the BeTerem organization for child safety, seven children have already drowned this year.

Thirty-seven children drowned in 2018, 12 times higher than recorded during the entire swimming season the previous year.

On Sunday, in response to the rising number of drownings, especially in private pools, the National Program for Child Safety, an initiative of the Health Ministry, launched a campaign calling for parents to always remain near their bathing children.