One-and-a-Half-Year-Old Baby Drowns to Death in Ashkelon Home

A tragic drowning incident occurred on August 6, 2026, when a one-and-a-half-year-old baby girl drowned inside a private home in Ashkelon. Emergency Medical Services (Magen David Adom) teams arrived to find the infant unconscious, without pulse or breathing, and immediately began advanced resuscitation efforts. She was rushed in critical condition to Barzilai Medical Center, where doctors ultimately declared her dead.

Paramedic Moti Shuv, along with senior paramedic Roi Lasri and medic Gabriel Kotchernko, described the scene, emphasizing their urgent efforts to save the child’s life during transport. This fatality adds to a disturbing national trend in 2026, with 19 children and teenagers drowning so far this year, a sharp increase compared to only two drowning deaths in the same period last year.

Orly Silbinger, CEO of the child safety organization Beterem, highlighted that young children can drown within seconds even in shallow water and without calling for help. She urged parents to maintain constant, close supervision with continuous eye contact to prevent such tragedies. Data from the past five years shows that about half of drowning victims were children aged from birth to four years old.

This incident underscores the critical need for heightened vigilance around water during the summer months, especially for very young children who are most vulnerable to drowning accidents.