{"id":592064,"date":"2026-08-22T00:12:43","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T00:12:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/592064\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T00:12:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T00:12:43","slug":"suspect-identified-in-fatal-stabbing-of-7-year-old-at-beit-shemesh-birthday-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/592064\/","title":{"rendered":"Suspect identified in fatal stabbing of 7-year-old at Beit Shemesh birthday party"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to the police investigation, Ifergan lives near the apartment where Hallel and his cousin, Ray, were staying. Investigators say he went to the residence several hours before the attack, spoke with the homeowner and left. He later returned and allegedly stabbed the two children while they were playing in a swimming pool.<\/p>\n

\"\u05d4\u05d0\u05e8\u05db\u05ea<\/a>\"\u05d4\u05d0\u05e8\u05db\u05ea<\/p>\n

Liel Ifergan brought before a court <\/p>\n

(Photo: Shalev Shalom)<\/p>\n

Ifergan was arrested immediately after the attack. A court extended his detention until Tuesday as investigators continue working to establish a motive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe arrived at an extremely difficult scene, where a young child was killed while playing in a pool,\u201d said Superintendent Guy Avrahami, deputy head of the interrogation division in the Jerusalem District police\u2019s central investigative unit.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this stage, we are focusing our investigative efforts on understanding exactly what the suspect\u2019s motive was and what led him to harm the children,\u201d Avrahami said. \u201cThe work of gathering evidence and putting the pieces of the puzzle together continues in an effort to uncover the truth and bring the suspect to justice to the fullest extent of the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police previously said they were examining all possible motives, including whether a dispute between the families may have played a role. Investigators were also examining the suspect\u2019s mental state, and his father was questioned at the scene following the attack.<\/p>\n

Children attacked while playing in pool<\/p>\n

The killing occurred Monday afternoon while Hallel and Ray were at their grandmother\u2019s home in Beit Shemesh, a city west of Jerusalem.<\/p>\n

The two children were playing in a pool when Ifergan allegedly arrived and stabbed them. A 15-year-old relative who had been watching the children witnessed the attack, according to police.<\/p>\n

\"\u05d4\u05dc\u05dc<\/a>\"\u05d4\u05dc\u05dc<\/p>\n

Shlomi Alon, Hallel\u2019s uncle and Ray\u2019s father, arrived at the apartment and found both children wounded. He attempted to resuscitate Hallel in an effort to save his life.<\/p>\n

The Magen David Adom emergency medical service<\/a> received the call at 4:40 p.m. Monday. Paramedics found Hallel unconscious, without a pulse and not breathing, while his younger cousin was conscious despite suffering serious injuries.<\/p>\n

Both boys were taken to Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center in Jerusalem, where Hallel was pronounced dead. Ray was hospitalized in serious condition, though his condition later stabilized.<\/p>\n

MDA medic Yosef Haim Berenfeld, one of the first responders, described the scene as \u201chorrifying.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u05d4\u05dc\u05dc<\/a>\"\u05d4\u05dc\u05dc<\/p>\n

Dadon with a relative about an hour before the deadly attack<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were led to two children who had suffered serious injuries, including one child who was unconscious, with no pulse and not breathing, and another who was conscious,\u201d he said. \u201cWe provided them with lifesaving medical treatment, performed resuscitation and evacuated them to the hospital in critical and serious condition.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Within minutes, life changed forever\u2019<\/p>\n

At Hallel\u2019s funeral, Alon recalled being with his nephew shortly before the killing.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust a few minutes before the tragedy, we were still together,\u201d he said. \u201cWe played, laughed and fooled around. You were happy. Who could imagine that within a few minutes, life would change forever?\u201d<\/p>\n

Other relatives mourned Hallel as a child who should have been preparing for another school year rather than being buried.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a child who should have been walking with a new backpack on his back, excited to see his friends,\u201d one relative told ynet. \u201cHe should have been dreaming children\u2019s dreams. What did he see in his final moments?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat kind of evil in this world dares touch a pure child who never harmed anyone?\u201d the relative said. \u201cOur hearts are shattered into pieces.\u201d<\/p>\n

The killing shocked Beit Shemesh, which suffered another tragedy involving a child within about an hour of the stabbing when a child was killed in an unrelated traffic accident.<\/p>\n

Mayor Shmuel Greenberg said municipal welfare and psychological services were assisting the affected families.<\/p>\n

Police said the investigation into Ifergan is continuing, with investigators now focused on determining what led to the attack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"According to the police investigation, Ifergan lives near the apartment where Hallel and his cousin, Ray, were staying.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":592065,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":["post-592064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/592065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}