Disappearance of Heimnot Kassau

Heimnot Kassau (also transliterated Haymanut Kasau or Heimnot Kasao) was a nine-year-old Ethiopian-Israeli girl who disappeared from the Safed reception center on February 25, 2024, at approximately 7:30 pm. She had gone out with friends to distribute campaign flyers for a candidate in the city's municipal elections. Heimnot had immigrated to Israel with her family from Ethiopia roughly three years before her disappearance and was living at a reception center on IDF Street in Safed.

At the time Heimnot vanished, her father was on a family visit to Ethiopia. About a week after her disappearance, he returned to Israel with assistance from the Jewish Agency so that he could be cleared and not remain a suspect.

The last documented record of Heimnot is a leaflet distribution event on February 27, 2024, in which relatives were photographed handing out flyers bearing her image on the streets of Safed. Police were notified of her absence at 10:00 pm and began a search. A search helicopter was not deployed until approximately 40 hours after she went missing; this delay was attributed to a hold-up in obtaining Israel Defense Forces approval amid escalating tensions related to the conflict with Hezbollah in Israel's northern districts. On February 28, 2024, the search area was expanded to include the nearby Meron area, and a police dog unit was used inside the reception center building to confirm she was not present there. Approximately 1,800 volunteers took part in the search during its first week.

Two weeks into the search, the Jewish Agency announced a reward of 100,000 New Israeli Shekels for information leading to Heimnot being found. In June 2024, that reward was increased to 350,000 shekels.

An investigation by the Israeli outlet Mako reported that, in the years prior to Heimnot's disappearance, two complaints had been filed alleging sexual abuse of children on the same street where she went missing. No clear connection between those prior complaints and Heimnot's disappearance has been established.

A month after she disappeared, police stated they had pursued all potential investigative leads and had no clues regarding her whereabouts. On December 17, 2025, police extended the detention of a man from Beersheba who had been arrested in connection with an alleged attempted child abduction that occurred six days earlier; prosecutors suspected a possible connection between that man and Heimnot's disappearance. As of the most recent reporting, Heimnot Kassau has not been located and no one has been charged in connection with her disappearance.