JERUSALEM — Friday’s second hearing in bitter custody battle over 6-year-old boy, who was killed in an accident in Italy by a cable car, ended without a final ruling.
Eitan Biran, the only survivor of a May mountainside cable car accident in northern Italy that resulted in 14 deaths including his parents and younger brother, is now in mourning.
Since Shmulik Peleg’s September departure to Israel, the child has been in the middle of a custody dispute between his paternal and maternal relatives in Italy. While relatives in Italy claim he was taken without them knowing, Israel’s relatives insist that they are acting in the child’s best interests and have not broken the law.
“I lost five members of my family,” Eti Peleg, the boy’s maternal grandmother, said to reporters outside the courtroom. “I lost my dad, I lost my daughter, I lost my grandson. Half of the family is absent when Friday dinner is held.
In the days ahead, more hearings will be held.
Friday’s hearing was attended by Eitan’s aunt Aya Biran who lives in Italy. She filed a formal request in September with the Italian courts seeking her son’s return. Shmulik Peleg also attended. He has admitted to driving the boy to Switzerland and then flying him back to Israel.
