Police announced after midnight overnight Monday that the owner of the Romema daycare and a babysitter—where two babies died on Monday—were arrested.

After their initial questioning following the tragic incident, the police decided to keep them in custody overnight.

The two were brought to the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, where the police asked to extend their detention by six days.

A police representative said at the hearing, “I was present yesterday at the scene, and I was shaken by what I saw. This is a private apartment that has been operated as a daycare for years illegally. From what I saw, there is evident neglect, with no basic conditions whatsoever for operating such a sensitive place.”

The daycare owner said that she does not remember whether the air conditioner was operating in the room where the infants who died were sleeping, saying that when she went to feed them, she noticed that they were pale, and she opened the window.

It should be noted that many parents of the children in the daycare have condemned the accusations against the owner, saying that she has run the daycare with great devotion for over 30 years.

Meanwhile, the dispute over autopsies on the babies continues. The ZAKA organization submitted an appeal to the Supreme Court following the Magistrate’s Court decision on Monday evening approving autopsies of the babies to determine the cause of death. Shnir Elmaliach, a representative of the ZAKA legal department, represented the families during the hearing.

After the judge issued the ruling, one of the babies’ fathers fainted in the courtroom.

Following the lower court’s decision to approve the autopsies despite the opposition of the families, ZAKA released a statement, saying, “Following the decision, ZAKA’s legal department announced that it would appeal to the Supreme Court, seeking to exhaust every legal avenue to protect the kavod of the babies and minimize harming them as much as possible.”

Judge Anat Greenbaum, who issued a temporary order delaying the autopsies until Tuesday at noon, stated during the hearing, “I am aware of the religious position of the families, but there are differing halachic opinions,” she claimed. “It is of great public health and investigative importance to determine the cause of death.”

ZAKA proposed a compromise: that the infants undergo non-invasive toxicological tests that could reveal the cause of death. However, since the results would only be available in weeks or months, the judge rejected the proposal.

During the night, large protests against the autopsies broke out in Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh, and the protests resumed on Tuesday.

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)