By Pesach Benson • August 18, 2026
Jerusalem, 18 August, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Israel’s Health Ministry has opened an investigation after a woman who used donor sperm at Assuta Medical Center in north Tel Aviv learned through genetic testing abroad that the man whose sperm she selected may not be the biological father of her child.
The ministry said Monday that it was reviewing the test results, the laboratory that conducted the test and the circumstances surrounding the fertility treatment. It said additional testing is needed before the results can be confirmed.
The Assuta Ashdod Medical Center in Ashdod on Nov. 29, 2023. Photo by Yoav Dudkevitch/TPS-IL
The woman reportedly became concerned after giving birth to a second son this month and noticing differences in the boys’ appearance. A DNA test conducted privately overseas subsequently indicated that the children have different biological fathers.
The hospital said it had launched its own investigation and was cooperating with the authorities.
“At this early stage, it is not yet possible to reach conclusions, and additional tests are required,” Assuta said. It added that it would handle the review “transparently and in full coordination with the Health Ministry.”
The case is the latest fertility-related incident involving Assuta, Israel’s largest private hospital network.
In 2023, the ministry temporarily barred Assuta’s north Tel Aviv facility from performing in vitro fertilization (IVF) after a woman’s eggs were mistakenly fertilized with sperm from a man other than her partner. A subsequent ministry report found that the hospital had not reported that incident to authorities, along with other cases involving damaged eggs.
A separate incident at Assuta’s Rishon Lezion facility came to light in 2022, when genetic testing showed that an embryo implanted in a pregnant woman did not belong genetically to her or her partner.
The resulting custody dispute lasted several years. In March 2025, the Supreme Court ruled that the girl, Sophia, should remain with the woman who gave birth to her and her partner, while allowing contact with her biological parents. The Health Ministry later revoked the licenses of two senior staff members over the embryo mix-up.
Israel’s State Comptroller released a scathing report on IVF clinics in 2024, raising issues of patient safety, inadequate oversight, and staffing shortages.
Israel, which leads the world in fertility treatments per capita, has seen a 60% increase in IVF cycles over the past decade, reaching 61,000 treatments in 2021. However, the Ministry of Health failed to adequately prepare for this surge, the Comptroller reported.
Israel offers some of the most generous public funding for IVF in the world. The government subsidizes unlimited IVF treatments for women up to the age of 45, as long as they are trying to have their first two children.
