Hymanut Kassou, a nine-year-old girl from Tzfat, has been missing from her home for approximately two days. She is considered to be in mortal danger, and an extensive search effort has been launched to locate her.
The search was joined by Minister of Immigration and Absorption Ofir Sofer, who visited the command center to observe the search effort firsthand.
As part of the search, the Israel Dog Unit, a nonprofit specializing in working dogs, has been searching in urban and undeveloped areas, using working dogs and variety of other advanced search equipment.
The search effort continued Tuesday morning despite a barrage of approximately forty rockets launched at the Galilee region. No one was injured during the attack.
Hymanut was last seen in the vicinity of her home on IDF Street in the southern neighborhood of Tzfat. Tzfat police and large numbers of volunteers are currently concentrating in the city's southern neighborhood and Old City. There is a possibility that the search will be expanded to other areas.
Israel Dog Unit director Yekutiel Ben-Yaakov commented: “This is a most unusual case, and not only because of the victim's age and the significant period of time that has elapsed since her disappearance. We have no records of an otherwise ordinary girl disappearing for such a long time in a heavily trafficked urban area. It is most disturbing that there is so far not even a single testimony about her.”
“We pray that we will find her in time, and ask the public to distribute her picture and immediately send any information that may help locate her to our hotline at 0544876709.”