Explore the vast range of titles available.

BackgroundArmed conflicts are likely to have implications for the welfare and safety of children, potentially leading to increased rates of unintentional childhood injuries.MethodsWe examine data from Israel concerning the relationship between emergencies and childhood mortality due to unintentional injuries using the media-based database of Beterem Safe Kids Israel to analyse seven events: 2008 Gaza War, 2014 Gaza War, first COVID-19 Lockdown, second COVID-19 Lockdown (September 2020), third COVID-19 Lockdown (December 2020), 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis and 2023 Israel–Gaza War. These events are categorised into Emergency Periods (EPs) and Emergency Routine Periods (periods during which an emergency extends and normalises into a stable routine; ERPs). For each EP we selected a comparable Routine Period (RP).ResultsUnintentional childhood mortality rates are lower during EPs, compared with RPs. Conversely, there is an increase in unintentional mortality rates during ERPs. EPs and ERPs occurring during armed conflicts exhibit higher unintentional mortality rates compared with health-related EPs and ERPs. Furthermore, military-related ERPs show higher unintentional mortality rates compared with the corresponding RPs. Unintentional mortality rates are notably higher among Arab children compared with Jewish children, particularly during ERPs. Unintentional childhood mortality also differs as a function of socioeconomic ranking, with widening gaps between municipalities of low socioeconomic ranking and municipalities of medium to high socioeconomic ranking, during EPs and ERPs.ConclusionsWe hypothesise that parents’ emotional availability declines during EPs and ERPs associated with military conflicts, coinciding with socioeconomic aspects, impacting families’ well-being and children’s safety.

Chopping tools/choppers provide one of the earliest and most persistent examples of stone tools produced and used by early humans. These artifacts appeared for the first time ~2.5 million years ago in Africa and are characteristic of the Oldowan and Acheulean cultural complexes throughout the Old World. Chopping tools were manufactured and used by early humans for more than two million years regardless of differences in geography, climate, resource availability, or major transformations in human cultural and biological evolution. Despite their widespread distribution through time and space in Africa and Eurasia, little attention has been paid to the function of these items, while scholars still debate whether they are tools or cores. In this paper, we wish to draw attention to these prominent and ubiquitous early lithic artifacts through the investigation of 53 chopping tools retrieved from a specific context at Late Acheulean Revadim (Israel). We combined typo-technological and functional studies with a residue analysis aimed at shedding light on their functional role within the tool-kits of the inhabitants of the site. Here we show that most of the chopping tools were used to chop hard and medium materials, such as bone, most probably for marrow extraction. A few of the tools were also used for cutting and scraping activities, while some also served as cores for further flake detachment. The chopping tools exhibit extraordinarily well-preserved bone residues suggesting they were used mainly for bone-breaking and marrow acquisition. We discuss the data and explore the tool versus core debate also in light of a sample of 50 flake cores made on pebbles/cobbles retrieved from the same archeological layer. The results add further pieces to the puzzle of activities carried out at Revadim and add to our knowledge of the production and use of these enigmatic tools and their role in human evolutionary history.

Background Despite universal health coverage and longstanding child-safety initiatives, socioeconomic and ethnic inequalities in childhood injury remain pronounced in Israel. Unintentional childhood injuries (UCI) function as a proxy for health inequity, reflecting structural gaps in preventive infrastructure and access to safe environments. Methods This study examines two case studies that illustrate how differential public investment contributes to unequal injury risks: (1) public playgrounds availability, and (2) participation in school-based swimming lessons. Both are analyzed within a social-determinants-of-health framework, emphasizing the interaction of environment, education, and municipal capacity. Data on fatal childhood injuries in public spaces and drowning incidents were drawn from Beterem Safe Kids Israel’s national media-based mortality database (2008–2025). Playground availability was assessed through triangulated sources, including OpenStreetMap, field validation, and Standards Institution of Israel records. Swimming-participation data were obtained from Ministry of Education responses to Freedom of Information requests for 2022–2023. Associations between infrastructure and training and child mortality were tested using Spearman’s rank correlation. Results Across 62 municipalities with child populations above 10,000, a significant positive correlation was found between children per playground and UCI (Unintentional Child Injury) mortality in public spaces (ρ = 0.290, p  < 0.05). Swimming participation displayed a inverse, though non-significant, relationship with drowning mortality (ρ = − 0.357, p  = 0.08). Participation inequalities were substantial: only 25% of children from low-SES clusters (1–3) and 20.5% of Arab children participated in swimming instruction, compared with 60% in affluent and Jewish municipalities. Between 2021 and 2025, Arab children were more than twice as likely to die from drowning as Jewish children (rate ratio = 2.43, χ² = 14.83, p  < 0.001). Conclusions These findings point to a shared structural mechanism behind injury inequalities: persistent underinvestment and institutional barriers that restrict access to preventive infrastructure in low-income and minority municipalities. Although playgrounds and swimming lessons are distinct domains, both exemplify how inequitable distribution of safety-enhancing resources produces measurable health risks. Addressing these gaps requires coordinated policy reforms that integrate public health, education, and urban planning; establish equity-weighted funding for preventive infrastructure; and institutionalize monitoring of child-safety environments. Equitable investment in prevention is essential for reducing injury and advancing child health equity in Israel.

The Lower Paleolithic Late Acheulian marks an exceptional phase in human cultural evolution, encompassing notable transformations and innovations across Africa and Western Eurasia alongside the persistence of well-practiced Acheulian modes of adaptation. Lithic transformations mentioned here include innovative stone-working technologies such as prepared cores, Quina-like scrapers and possible origin of systematic blade production. These innovations provide a glance into potential changes in technological organization of lithic production that might reflect innovative modes of adaptation oriented towards changes in economy, environment and world-views of these early hominin groups. The open-air, Late Acheulian site of Jaljulia makes a significant contribution to the study of this transformative phase at the very end of the long Acheulian tradition in the Levant. The site was excavated to a relatively large extent (ca. 80m 2 ) and the excavation yielded rich lithic assemblages of typical Late Acheulian technological components from several localities, dated to ca. 500–3/200 ka. The lithic assemblages are mostly dominated by flake-production, flake-tools, and numerous Handaxes. This paper presents the comprehensive analyses of the flint assemblages from five Jaljulia localities (Localities A–E). The results presented and discussed here are intriguing, as all five assemblages encompass components that could be regarded as forbearers of post-Acheulian industries. The use of prepared cores might signal an early appearance of the Middle Paleolithic Levallois concepts, and in order to stress this point, these cores are termed here “proto-Levallois”. Quina-like scrapers and blades are prominent, possibly reflecting the early adoption of technologies that became more common in the post-Acheulian, Acheuleo-Yabrudian cultural complex of the Levant. Based on this remarkable lithic repertoire, this paper discusses possible patterns of continuity and change in lithic production from the Late Acheulian to later industries and suggests refinements to the reduction trajectories variability.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0338540.].

BackgroundThe increasing use of motorised wheeled vehicles has reshaped urban mobility for children and adolescents, but also poses significant safety risks. This study examines child fatalities from crashes involving motorised two-wheeled vehicles (e-bikes and e-scooters) in Israel, comparing them to non-motorised bicycle and scooter fatalities. We analysed behavioural and demographic risk factors and provided evidence-based policy recommendations.MethodsWe analysed fatal childhood incidents (ages 0–17) recorded in Beterem Safe Kids Israel’s media-based database from 2008 and 2024. Mortality rates per 100 000 were calculated, and statistical analyses, including χ2 tests, assessed differences across socioeconomic and age groups.Results78 child fatalities were documented; 94.9% were boys, with an average age of 11.5 years. Mortality rates rose by 60.5% after motorised vehicles were introduced in 2016. Arab children were disproportionately affected (χ2=13.46; p<0.05), particularly in non-motorised vehicle crashes. Lower-income groups had higher fatality rates, while motorised vehicle fatalities were more common in mid-to-high socioeconomic clusters.ConclusionsDespite legislation, gaps in enforcement and public awareness persist. Strengthening helmet laws, enforcing speed limits and promoting safety education are crucial. Culturally and socioeconomically tailored interventions, needs-based budgeting and subsidies for protective gear can further enhance child safety.

The research of the Kaizer Hill site (the Hilltop and its Terraces), recognized as a Pre Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) quarry site, involved studies of the rock damage associated with the quarrying activities as well as of the recovered material remains, mostly chipped stone artifacts. We present here the results of our on-site explorations (excavations, surveys and surface-collections), focusing on the findings deriving from the Terraces. Diverse rock damage patterns were identified and described, portraying systematic rock mass-exploitation through quarrying fronts, natural rock joints and fissures enlargement, drilling and chiseling. There are multiple indications that the local bedrock (Bi’na Formation, Turonian) comprising flint and limestone was quarried under a systematic quality evaluation, leaving residual flint unsuitable for exploitation. Of interest to note that nearly all of the flint artifacts excavated and collected on the Terraces were made on raw material transported from the Hilltop (Mishash Formation, Campanian), knapped in-situ, on the quarried rock surfaces of the slopes. The flint tools bear witness to intensive use involving mainly boring and drilling. The dominant tool type is the flint axe for which a variety of waste products related to its production were found in-situ, enabling the reconstruction of axe reduction sequence. Similar axes and waste products were found in many PPN sites indicating that there was a common, widely-used scheme of making flint axes during the PPN. Interestingly, besides the flint waste, there were also limestone waste products typical of the last shaping and thinning stages of axe production, indicating that limestone axes were shaped technologically similar to the flint ones, contrary to what has been assumed before. Rare findings, such as obsidian pieces, originating from much further a-field indicate ties with other PPN communities, near and/or far. Overall, this study provides unique and novel insights on Levantine PPN lifeways.

The article aims to quantify the relationship between city-level socioeconomic conditions in Israel and the incidence of fatal unintentional childhood injury. We gathered city-level socioeconomic data from a specialized socioeconomic mobility database and juxtaposed it against the most complete Israeli database of unintentional childhood mortality. We used regression analysis to arrive at a parsimonious model explaining more than half of the variance in the outcome variable. We discuss implications for public policy.

Background The first five months of 2025 marked a sharp and troubling increase in child injuries involving All-Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) in Israel. During this short period, 17 children were reported as injured or killed in ATV-related incidents – three fatally - with a mean age of 12.5 years (median: 14). This represents a 263% rise compared to previous annual rates, highlighting serious concerns regarding the effectiveness of existing legislation, enforcement and public awareness. The purpose of this study is to analyze long-term trends in ATV-related child injuries and assess the urgent need for regulatory and preventive interventions. Methods We conducted a retrospective analysis of unintentional childhood injuries involving ATVs using Beterem Safe Kids Israel’s media-based pediatric injury database, from 2008 until May 2025. Trends over time were analyzed using best-fit regression models, and group differences were tested using chi-square tests of independence. Results Between 2008 and May 2025, 378 ATV-related injuries among children and adolescents were documented, including 41 fatalities. A clear upward trend was observed, with the annual average rising from 21.9 cases per year (2008–2019) to 43 cases per year (2020–2025), and with 22 cases already reported in 2025. Severe and fatal cases more than doubled during this period. Arab children were overrepresented relative to their population share. Incidents peaked during weekends and holidays. A significant quadratic increase in mortality rates over time was identified (R² = 0.751, P  < 0.001). ATV-related injuries were disproportionately concentrated among children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, with 95% of Arab victims and 74% of Jewish victims residing in low- or mid-ranking municipalities. Conclusions ATVs present an escalating and preventable danger to child safety in Israel, with recent data signaling a critical and worsening trend. Immediate and decisive action is imperative. Policymakers must urgently implement a uniform minimum age for ATV operation, mandate safety technologies (e.g., Operator Protective Devices), require physical capability assessments, and launch targeted public awareness and enforcement campaigns—especially in rural and underserved communities. These measures are essential to safeguarding children and reversing the alarming trajectory of ATV-related harm.