Jerusalem mother, 4 daughters die in suspected murder-suicide

A woman and four children were found dead in a burning apartment in Jerusalem on Sunday afternoon, in what police suspect was a murder-suicide.

The five were listed as a 36-year-old mother, and her four girls — two aged 12, a seven-year-old and a two-year-old.

The woman is suspected of having committed suicide by hanging herself, according to initial reports.

A police spokesperson said the five were found in critical condition by emergency personnel responding to the fifth-story fire on Hebron Road in southern Jerusalem. Rescuers pronounced them dead at the scene.

Rescuers said the woman’s body was found on a balcony outside the apartment. Channel 2 reported that it was neighbors who saw her body hanging on the balcony and called the emergency services.

Fire officials said the blaze was contained to a single locked room where the bodies of the four children were found.

It was not immediately clear if the four girls died as a result of the fire or how the fire broke out.

The husband arrived at the scene about half an hour after the emergency services.

Shalom Klein, a volunteer with the Zaka search and rescue organization, called the scene “shocking.”

“I arrived at the scene of the fire and the neighbors brought me to the apartment balcony. The mother was dead. Her four children were burned to death. ZAKA Jerusalem volunteers are dealing with the bodies and collecting the remains,” Klein said.

A spokesperson for the United Hatzalah rescue organization said the father was being treated by a psychotrauma team. It was not clear where he was at the time of the fire.

Police shut down Hebron Road as rescue vehicles filled the main artery. It was later reopened to traffic.