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Stabbing in Beit Shemesh
A seven-year-old boy was stabbed to death and his four-year-old cousin was wounded in Beit Shemesh, central Israel, on Monday by a neighbor who had visited the home hours earlier, police said Friday.
“A seven-year-old boy was stabbed to death and his four-year-old cousin wounded in Beit Shemesh”
Haaretz reported that the killing followed the lifting of a gag order on the investigation, with new details emerging about the attack.
ynetglobal said police identified 26-year-old Liel Ifergan as the suspect in the fatal stabbing of 7-year-old Hallel Mordechai Dadon in Beit Shemesh earlier this week.
Police said Ifergan lives near the apartment where Hallel and his cousin, Ray, were staying, and investigators say he went to the residence several hours before the attack, spoke with the homeowner and left, then returned and stabbed the two children while they were playing in a swimming pool.
Police and first responders
ynetglobal said the attack occurred Monday afternoon while Hallel and Ray were at their grandmother’s home in Beit Shemesh, with the two children playing in a pool when Ifergan allegedly arrived and stabbed them.
A 15-year-old relative who had been watching the children witnessed the attack, according to police, and Shlomi Alon, Hallel’s uncle and Ray’s father, arrived at the apartment and found both children wounded.
ynetglobal quoted MDA medic Yosef Haim Berenfeld describing the scene as “horrifying,” saying, “We were led to two children who had suffered serious injuries, including one child who was unconscious, with no pulse and not breathing.”
Superintendent Guy Avrahami, deputy head of the interrogation division in the Jerusalem District police’s central investigative unit, said, “At this stage, we are focusing our investigative efforts on understanding exactly what the suspect’s motive was and what led him to harm the children.”
Detention, motive, and mourning
Police said Ifergan was arrested immediately after the attack, and a court extended his detention until Tuesday as investigators continue working to establish a motive.
“A court extended his detention until Tuesday as investigators continue working to establish a motive”
ynetglobal reported that investigators were examining all possible motives, including whether a dispute between the families may have played a role, and it said investigators were also examining the suspect’s mental state.
At Hallel’s funeral, Shlomi Alon recalled being with his nephew shortly before the killing, saying, “Just a few minutes before the tragedy, we were still together.”
Israel National News said Ifergan, 26, has been named as the main suspect in the murder of seven-year-old Hillel Mordechai Dadon in Beit Shemesh, and it quoted Avrahami saying, “We arrived at a very difficult scene, where a young child lost his life while playing in a pool.”