After a 5-year-old child who was left in a hot car in Lod died Sunday, United Hatzalah issued a warning to parents, imploring them to “stop for one second.”

“It can happen to loving, responsible parents,” United Hatzalah said. “Before you leave your car, stop for one second and look in the back seat.”

This is the 23rd such death in Israel since 2021. In that time span, an additional 53 children were harmed but survived, and 1,513 children were rescued in time and unharmed.

In the Lod case, what is known so far is that the child had fallen asleep on a drive home and was left in the car. After two hours, the father, realizing the boy was not in the house, checked the car, found the boy unconscious and called Magen David Adom. MDA medic Efi Rosenblum responded to the call and even before he reached the car, local residents carried the child toward him.

“They took a child out of a private vehicle who, according to them, had been locked inside for a prolonged period,” Rosenblum said. “He was very hot to the touch, and I immediately began resuscitation efforts.”

Additional members of the MDA unit arrived, but despite resuscitation efforts at the scene and continued efforts in the trauma room at Shamir Medical Center, the boy was pronounced dead.

“We began performing advanced resuscitation efforts that included chest compressions and ventilation, and evacuated him in a mobile intensive care unit to the hospital in critical condition while we fought for his life,” said two medics at the scene, Haim Shavit and Yosef Yitzhak Sagiv. They said the child had no pulse, was not breathing, and was showing signs of heatstroke.

The child was identified as Betzalel Dovid Giller, from a Chabad family. A resident of the community, singer Avi Menachem, said the scene was one of the most painful he had ever witnessed. Describing the situation, he stopped short of describing the conditions inside the car, saying it was too distressing to relate.

“Today I witnessed one of the most difficult and shocking sights I have experienced in my life,” Menachem said. “I was there and saw up close the attempts to resuscitate the young child who had been forgotten in the car.”

“It is difficult to describe in words what I saw,” he said, recalling “the rescue personnel who fought with all their strength for his life, and the pain and shock that were present at the scene.”

He also implored parents to heighten their vigilance, while at the same time urging people to withhold their judgment.

“Children are our lives,” he said. “We must do everything possible to prevent such a case, reminders on the phone, checking the car every time we get out, warning devices, and anything that can prevent the next tragedy.”

“There is no place here for judgment or accusations,” he added. “There is a family here that is going through, at this moment, the most terrible pain imaginable. My heart is with them.”