Lod Mayor Yair Revivo expressed his deep sorrow over the death of baby Yehuda Werner who was forgotten in a car in the city of Modi'in Illit.
"This is a grave disaster for the family, for the Torah core group population, and for the city of Lod. I've instructed the welfare authorities to provide every possible assistance to a family that has lost that which is most precious," Revivo wrote.
"We embrace the family in their great pain and ask the media to leave them alone at this difficult time. Summer vacation requires us to take extra care and adopt safety rules to prevent disasters and injury to children.
Revivo called on the State to every summer promote an extensive information campaign on preventing child injury, and to pass a law requiring the installation of electronic devices to prevent children from being forgotten in every vehicle.
"In the first stage, I suggested today to Transportation Minister Betzalel Smotrich to allow babies to be placed in the front seat which would reduce forgetfulness. In this situation it's preferable to the fear of a prematurely activating airbag. I hope we hear good news."
The funeral will take place at 20:00 at the Mount of Olives cemetery in Jerusalem.
An initial investigation revealed that the mother, the manager of a daycare center, went shopping and after about three hours in the shop remembered that she had left her son in the car. She took him to a nearby synagogue and passersby called for an ambulance. Magen David Adom teams who arrived at the scene provided CPR and evacuated him to Assaf Harofeh Hospital, where doctors were forced to declare his death.
"This is a tragic incident," said MDA Paramedic Uri Gavriel and emergency medic Shmuel Monk. "We saw a car with open doors from which a half-year-old baby was rescued after he was in a closed vehicle. People put the baby into a nearby synagogue and began giving him first aid. He was unconscious, without pulse or breathing, with signs of heat stroke. We gave him medical treatment and performed extensive CPR operations. The MDA mobile ambulance team that arrived quickly continued to fight for his life."
"The mother screamed, 'Save my child,'" said United Hatzola medic Aharon Waldstein. "She said she left him in the car for a long time, she was probably in a nearby store, she left him for a few hours, and forgot that she left him there."