AI Campaign Relaunched to Find Missing Girl Hymanot Kassau After 841 Days

Israeli authorities and the Jewish Agency launched a major public campaign on Monday to help find Hymanot Kassau, who has been missing for 841 days. The Ministry of Aliyah and Integration and the Jewish Agency are urging anyone with even a small piece of information to call Israel Police at 100 immediately.

The campaign appears on billboards across Israel and leading news websites, and uses artificial intelligence to recreate and animate Hymanot’s image. A short video shows the animated girl approaching the screen and tapping it with her fingers, in an effort to create an immediate emotional connection with viewers.

The effort, coordinated with and approved by the family, is being funded by the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration and the Jewish Agency at a cost of hundreds of thousands of shekels. The advertising agency Web3 handled the campaign and its technological production. The ads state, “We must find Hymanot. If you have information, call 100 for the police. A cash reward will be given to anyone whom the police determine provided information that led to finding Hymanot.”

Investigators and campaign organizers hope the cash incentive and broad exposure will prompt people to recall forgotten details or share information that has not yet reached police. Hymanot, who was 9 years old, was last seen on February 25, 2024, at the absorption center where she lived in Safed. Despite months of extensive searches using special technology and dog units, and an intensive investigation led by the International Crime Investigations Unit in Lahav 433, police say they still have no concrete lead on what happened to her or where she may be. The Kassau family continues to receive professional and financial support from the Jewish Agency and the Ministry of Aliyah and Integration.