Eighth Child Dies in Israel's Measles Outbreak, All Unvaccinated

A two-and-a-half-year-old child who had not been vaccinated against measles has died of the disease, Israel's Health Ministry said on Sunday. It is the eighth death since the current outbreak began. All of those who have died were previously healthy children who had not received the measles vaccine, the ministry said.

A six-and-a-half-year-old unvaccinated child from southern Israel was on a ventilator with complications from the disease, the ministry added. It urged parents to have their children vaccinated, and said vaccination stations were open without appointments in the outbreak areas, which it listed as including Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, Bnei Brak, Modi'in Illit and several other cities. Beit Shemesh sits in the hills between Jerusalem and the coastal plain; Bnei Brak is a dense city adjoining Tel Aviv; Modi'in Illit lies east of the coastal plain. All three have large ultra-Orthodox Jewish populations.

Why measles kills healthy children

Measles is not a mild childhood illness that has simply been over-managed. The World Health Organization lists pneumonia, encephalitis, severe diarrhoea, ear infections and blindness among its complications, and estimated 95,000 measles deaths worldwide in 2024, mostly in unvaccinated children under five. A single infected person can pass the virus to as many as 18 others, and the virus remains infectious in the air or on surfaces for up to two hours, which is why outbreaks move so fast through communities where coverage has slipped.

The vaccination gap behind the outbreak

Three weeks before this death, The Jerusalem Post reported roughly 1,700 confirmed cases, with statistical modelling suggesting nearer 5,000 in reality, and 468 patients hospitalised, 93% of them children. Coverage for a first dose among children aged one to six stood at 88%, leaving an estimated 123,880 children in that age group unprotected. The designated outbreak zones then included Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, Bnei Brak, Harish, Modi'in Illit, Nof Hagalil, Kiryat Gat, Ashdod and Safed.

How the outbreak was later traced and counted

A genomic analysis published in the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention journal Emerging Infectious Diseases in July 2026 recorded 3,203 cases and 16 deaths in Israel between 7 April 2025 and 28 February 2026, the largest outbreak since 2018–19. The virus was genotype B3, and the study concluded that a single importation event most likely drove it. National coverage had fallen to 83% for a first dose before 25 months of age and 87% for a second dose before the age of eight, with markedly lower rates in ultra-Orthodox communities and in the Jerusalem area.

By early February 2026 the death toll stood at 14 and confirmed cases at 2,898, The Times of Israel reported, with more than 60% of cases in Jerusalem and Beit Shemesh.

What the statement did not say

The Health Ministry did not say where the child who died lived, or when the infection was contracted. It did not give the full list of outbreak areas, referring only to "several other cities" beyond the four it named, and it did not say how many vaccination stations were operating or how many doses had been given since the campaign began.