Last update - 00:00 05/03/2008
Ashdod police believe they identified mother of abandoned baby
By Roni Singer-Heruti and Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz Correspondents and Haaretz Service
Ashdod police believe they have identified the mother of the baby found on Monday inside a plastic bag placed in the lobby of an apartment building, Army Radio reported.
The infant, believed to be only about 2 hours old at the time of his discovery, is in good condition at Kaplan Hospital in Rehovot.
Superintendent Moshe Levin of the Ashdod Police investigations unit told Army Radio that a significant breakthrough has been achieved in the inquest, and that police are now trying to locate a woman who is very likely to be his mother.
The woman is known to have previously abandoned her child, he added.
Meanwhile, Hundreds of people have called Ashdod city hall offering to adopt the abandoned baby.
City welfare officials and representatives from the National Council for the Child are to meet Wednesday to discuss placing the baby with a foster family. For now, hospital nurses are caring for the infant in shifts.
"He was hypothermic when he arrived, with an internal body temperature of slightly under 33 degrees Celsius," hospital pediatrician Dr. Orna Fliedel said Tuesday. "He was breathing a little quickly but his condition stabilized quickly. He was placed in the preemies ward, where he was warmed and given fluids intravenously as well as antibiotics, since we don't know how his umbilical cord was cut," Fliedel said.
Late Monday afternoon Ephraim Janashvili noticed a plastic bag that had been left in the lobby of his apartment building. He picked it up, thinking that a tenant had neglected to throw out a bag of trash, and then noticed the baby's head inside the bag. "My wife called the police and they started asking questions, she told them there was no time for stories and to call for an ambulance," Janashvili related Tuesday.
Ashdod police detectives interviewed all occupants of the building in search of the mother and have checked with area prenatal clinics, HMOs and hospitals.
Ashdod police commander Chief Superintendent Danny Elgarat said on Tuesday that the baby's mother meant for the infant to be found and did intend to hurt the baby. "We want to help her, first of all. Maybe she is in distress, maybe she is all alone somewhere, injured. She has nothing to fear from questioning by the police because in such cases our prime concern is the mother's welfare," he said.
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