Nearly six months after 9-year-old Haymanut Kasau vanished from her home in Safed, police launched a renewed, concentrated search effort on Monday morning to uncover clues and gather more information about her disappearance.
At 6:00 a.m., police forces, emergency and rescue personnel, and numerous volunteers from the Jewish Agency and civil society organizations arrived in the city to assist in the search, this time focusing on the industrial area and the forests near the absorption center.
Police sources indicate that today's searches are being conducted in areas that have been searched previously and are part of the ongoing investigation and extensive efforts since Haymanut went missing on February 25. As of now, there is no new information about her whereabouts.
On June 18, the Knesset's Immigration and Absorption Committee held a follow-up discussion on her disappearance, attended by her family members. However, only the committee chairman, Knesset lawmaker Oded Forer (Yisrael Beiteinu), and three Ethiopian-origin Knesset members attended the discussion. Tesfaye Kasau, Haymanut's father, told those present at the committee meeting: "I ask that you feel this girl is not only ours but belongs to the entire country. We have no day or night free from worrying about her. The police have searched, and many citizens have mobilized to help find her, but right now, no one knows where she is."
At the end of February, the Jewish Agency announced a cash reward of $27,000 (100,000 shekels) to anyone who provides the police with information leading to Haymanut's discovery. In June, the agency increased the cash reward to $40,500 (150,000 shekels). Alongside a crowdfunding campaign organized by the family, which raised about $54,000 (200,000 shekels), the current reward stands at $94,500 (350,000 shekels).