Over 55,000 children under the age of 3 in Jerusalem — 79 percent — are in unsupervised daycare settings, the Knesset Research and Information Center informed lawmakers during a Monday discussion of early childhood education, called in the wake of the deaths of two infants last week at an unlicensed daycare in the capital.
According to the research body’s report, 55,100 children under 3 are currently outside the supervised daycare system in the capital, with an additional 13,400 in Beit Shemesh, 12,000 in Bnei Brak, 7,500 in Tel Aviv and 6,100 in Rahat.
Only 21% of children under 3 in Jerusalem are registered at supervised daycares, a very low number compared to the other cities among the biggest 10 in the country — 44% in Bnei Brak, 45% in Ashdod, 49% in Netanya, 53% in Haifa, 55% in Holon, 58% in Tel Aviv-Jaffa, 61% in Petah Tikva, 61% in Rishon LeZion and 62% in Beersheba.
Among all local authorities in the country, the highest percentage of children in supervised daycares is in Ness Ziona (97%), Har Adar (94%), Rosh Pina (88%) and Ramat Hasharon (84%), while the lowest is in the Bedouin locales of Rahat, Arara and Kuseife (12%).
The data was presented to the Knesset Education Committee, which held a joint discussion with the Knesset Welfare Committee and the Committee on the Rights of the Child in the wake of the tragic deaths of four-month-old Leah Goloventzitz and six-month-old Aharon Katz.
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Both died and another 53 babies and toddlers were injured to varying degrees in an incident at an unlicensed Jerusalem daycare last Monday, prompting the arrest of three of the caregivers working there.
Footage from the scene showed serious overcrowding. Police believe the two babies died of heat exhaustion and dehydration linked to a faulty heating system.
Haredi politicians have blamed the incident on efforts to conscript ultra-Orthodox men to the IDF, which led the High Court of Justice in 2024 to order cuts to daycare subsidies for the children of draft evaders — though the phenomenon of widespread unlicensed daycares goes back decades. The incident also led to widespread rioting by Haredim opposed for religious reasons to autopsying the children.
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men block a road and clash with police during a protest against the autopsy of two babies who died in an unlicensed daycare, in Jerusalem, January 19, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/ Flash90)
Discussing the incident in the Knesset Education Committee on Monday, Labor MK Naama Lazimi accused United Torah Judaism party chairman Yitzhak Goldknopf of trying “to whitewash the disaster” and of being “part of the problem.”
In response, committee chairman Zvi Sukkot (Religious Zionism) accused Lazimi of inciting against the Haredi public.
Goldknopf said that while his party wants to prevent future tragedies, the caregivers have been treated too harshly by law enforcement.
MK Yitzchak Goldknopf attends a joint meeting of the Education, Culture and Sports Committee, the Welfare Committee, and the Committee on the Rights of the Child at the Knesset in Jerusalem, January 26, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
“They were held for several days in jail,” he said. “Whatever happened is in the past — you can’t charge someone if you don’t know they’re guilty.”
Likud MK Keti Shitrit, the chair of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, lamented that almost half of the children under 3 in Israel are in unlicensed daycares.
“Why are the babies being neglected? There is a grave manpower shortage. Fifty percent of caregivers leave during the year. Parents are forced to send their kids to unsupervised daycares,” she said.
Education Minister Yoav Kisch attends a joint meeting of the Education, Culture and Sports Committee, the Welfare Committee, and the Committee on the Rights of the Child at the Knesset in Jerusalem, January 26, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Education Minister Yoav Kisch said that cracking down on illegal daycare centers would require cross-agency cooperation, and that his ministry does not have the tools or authority to deal with the issue on its own.
“Pirate daycare centers are a phenomenon that has existed for decades. It is clear that we are trying to ensure that as many daycare centers as possible are licensed and supervised, but without cooperation between the police, the prosecutor’s office, local government and government ministries, we will not be able to deal with this,” Kisch said.
“I do not have the information or the authority to go to a neighborhood and check one apartment or another to see if there are children inside or not. Since the issue was transferred to the Education Ministry, thousands of kindergartens have registered and come under supervision,” he added.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
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