Overview
- Official Knesset research reported about 55,100 Jerusalem children under age three are outside supervised frameworks, leaving only 21% in licensed settings.
- Municipal disparities are stark, with supervised enrollment as low as 12% in some Bedouin towns and as high as 97% in Ness Ziona.
- A joint Knesset session followed last week’s deaths of two infants and injuries to 53 others at an unlicensed Jerusalem daycare, with several caregivers arrested.
- Police say video showed overcrowding at the Jerusalem site and believe heat exhaustion and dehydration from a malfunctioning heating system caused the deaths.
- On Tuesday, a one‑year‑old died at a Bnei Brak daycare and a caretaker was arrested, as ministers push proposals including an Early Childhood Authority and expanded state‑funded infant care.