About 10 toddlers treated for allergic reactions at Betar Illit daycare

Around 10 toddlers at a daycare centre in Betar Illit developed allergic symptoms on Tuesday morning, October 13, and several were taken to hospital, according to Israel's national emergency medical service, Magen David Adom (MDA). N12 carried MDA's initial report that the children, all very young, showed mild signs of allergy. Police later said they had ruled out the presence of hazardous materials at the site and that the reaction appeared to be linked to food.

Ynet reported that the children were roughly a year old and had probably been exposed to canned food, and that police shut the daycare and opened an investigation. A separate Ynet alert on Telegram quoted a description that the children had eaten tinned tuna. In a later update, MDA said its medics and paramedics were treating the children and taking 5 toddlers in mild condition to Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital.

What the police said

In a statement relayed by N12, police said that hazardous materials had been excluded and that, after taking witness accounts, the suspicion was a reaction caused by exposure to food. The same statement said medical teams treated 8 children and took three to hospital in mild condition. The initial concern over hazardous materials reflects standard procedure in Israel when several people fall ill at once in an enclosed space: emergency services treat the scene as a possible chemical incident until that is ruled out. Ynet's alert service used the Hebrew acronym chomas, short for chomarim mesukanim, meaning hazardous materials, when reporting that such an incident had been excluded.

Where this happened and who responded

Betar Illit is a large ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) city in the West Bank, close to Jerusalem. Haredi families tend to be large, and daycare centres serving very young children are common in such towns. The reports do not name the daycare or say who operates it.

Magen David Adom, often abbreviated MDA, is Israel's national ambulance and emergency medical organisation, roughly equivalent to a combined ambulance and paramedic service in other countries. It is a member of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. Hadassah Ein Kerem is one of the main hospitals in Jerusalem and has a large paediatric department, which makes it a natural destination for children from communities on the city's outskirts.

Where the reports differ

The organisations that covered the incident did not give matching figures, and the differences have not been reconciled in the material available.

• Number of children affected: MDA, as cited by N12, and Ynet both gave 10. The Jerusalem Post said some 10. News.co.il posted one Telegram update saying at least 10 and another, at the same minute, saying 9.
• Number taken to hospital: MDA's update said 5 toddlers were evacuated. The police statement carried by N12 said three were taken to hospital after 8 were treated. News.co.il reported that 3 toddlers about a year old were evacuated.
• Severity: MDA, the police and Ynet all described the children's condition as mild. News.co.il, in that same update, described the 3 evacuated toddlers as being in moderate condition.

The different hospital figures may reflect updates issued at different times during the morning, but the reports do not say so, and this page does not assume it.

The wider evacuation

News.co.il reported that about 150 children were evacuated from the daycare. None of the other organisations mentioned this figure, so it rests on that single outlet. It is also not clear from the report whether the number refers to the daycare alone or to a larger building or complex.

What the reports do not say

Several basic questions remain open in the coverage so far:

• Whether the tuna has been confirmed as the cause, or remains a working suspicion based on what staff and witnesses described. The police statement speaks of a suspicion, not a finding.
• Whether the reaction was a true allergy, a case of food poisoning or contamination, or something else. The reports use the language of allergy, but no medical finding has been published.
• The brand or source of the canned food, and whether health or food safety authorities have been asked to examine it.
• How long the daycare will remain closed and what the police investigation is examining.
• The current condition of the children who were taken to hospital, beyond the initial descriptions of mild symptoms and, in one report, moderate condition.

Israel.com will update this report if official figures are clarified or the cause is confirmed.