Five-Year-Old Ian Abu-Amar Dies Six Days After Drowning in Negev Pool

Ian Munir Abu-Amar, a five-year-old boy from Malkiya in the Negev, was declared dead on Monday at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba, six days after drowning in a public pool in the community of Omer. Emergency medical teams performed resuscitation efforts at the scene before transporting him to the hospital, where he remained in critical condition until his death.

In a related incident, a four-year-old boy from Jerusalem drowned over the weekend in a pool in San Jose del Cabo, Baja California, Mexico, while vacationing with his family. ZAKA reported that local authorities initially requested a post-mortem examination, which was later waived, allowing the body to be released. ZAKA's international unit is assisting the family with the necessary procedures to repatriate the boy's body to Israel for burial.

Additional drowning fatalities have been reported recently involving Israelis abroad and domestically. Last week, Yaakov Israel Yedid Halevi, 35, drowned at a beach in Limassol, Cyprus. Earlier, a two-year-old Israeli toddler drowned in a hotel pool in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, where her death was confirmed at a hospital. Another two-year-old drowned in a private pool in the Mateh Yehuda Regional Council near Jerusalem and was pronounced dead after emergency treatment and airlift to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital.

On the previous Saturday, a 64-year-old man drowned near Neve Yam beach south of Atlit and was declared dead at Rambam Hospital in Haifa. Within two hours, a man in his 60s drowned at Blue Ray beach in Netanya and was hospitalized in critical condition. Another 65-year-old man was also hospitalized in critical condition after being rescued from the sea near Herzliya beach.