Two children, aged 2 and 3, were found Tuesday inside a housing project apartment in Tiberias with traces of severe abuse. Police say the children were victims of prolonged neglect. As they came in, the children's mother tried to jump out of a window, but was caught.
The children were admitted to Poriya hospital, and their mother will be sent to a psychiatric evaluation. The Nazareth Magistrate's Court has extended her remand by six days.
When lengthy sobs came out of the apartment, some neighbors decided to call the Tiberias police. A neighbor told Haaretz that he was not suspicious at first. "Only when I came home very late at night and the crying went on, I decided to call the police," he said. "The sights inside the apartment were horrific: the older child was in the toilet, covered in feces. He looked scared and cried a lot. The other child was kept in a room which was locked with a chain and a padlock." He also said that "the bed was smeared with blood."
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Another neighbor said: "It was apparent that the mother was very strict with her children, but I had never thought violence was involved. She used to shout at them often. Once, when one of the children was crying in the stairway, I carried him up, but his mother shouted and told me that was her way to raise her children."
According to the children's doctor, Dr Yehoshua Zarfin, they are in a good physical condition, but there are still "shocking" whipping traces on their bodies. They arrived at the hospital crying, and communicated mainly with their grandmother.
Zarfin says that the older child has not suffered internal injuries, but the younger one is reluctant to cooperate with the medical staff. Judging by older bruises that have been found on his body, it is assumed that the toddler has suffered from persistent violence. The two will stay under surveillance to rule out internal injuries and until the welfare services find a solution for them. "The bruises and the hemorrhages will go away, but the mental impact will last for years," Zarfin said.
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