Police clash with Charedi rioters over autopsies following baby deaths at ‘unlicensed’ nursery

Reports in Hebrew media claim that the daycare was unlicensed and overcrowded.

But police are now locked in a court battle with the infants' families over the prospective autopsies.

Authorities argue the process is essential to determine the cause of death, but the move is opposed by the childrens' parents, who are understood to be members of the Charedi community - which widely considers autopsy to be a desecration of the body.

Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court ruled last night that the procedures may go ahead, but the families, as well as the strictly-Orthodox Zaka emergency service, say they plan to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.

Charedi Jewish men block a road and clash with police during a protest against the autopsy of toddlers who died earlier in a daycare, in Jerusalem, January 19, 2026 (Flash90)Flash90

Hundreds of Charedi protestors took to the streets after Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch, head of the rabbinical courts within the Edah Haredit sect, said there was an “obligation on each and every person to go out onto the city’s streets and protest against the autopsy and desecration of the dead”.

Some of the demonstrators rioted and set fires, clashing with police and blocking a major junction. Police used stun grenades and batons to disperse the crowd.

Three caregivers have been detained for questioning. The National Council for the Child has demanded police and Education Department investigations into “not only the serious negligence, but the issue of the daycare’s operating license, as well”.

A total of 27 children remain in hospital at time of writing, with the Fire and Rescue Service confirming those affected were exhibiting signs of “respiratory distress”.