Body of suspected female murder victim found, the second within hours

A woman has been found dead in the northern town of Nahariya, police say, adding that there is suspicion she was murdered.

The woman’s body was found at a place of business. No further details are given in the statement.

She is the second woman whose body was found today. Earlier, a woman was stabbed to death in her car in I’billin, also in the north. Her husband later turned himself in to police.

In a statement to Channel 12 before the announcement of the second suspected murder, Hagit Pe’er, head of women’s organization Na’amat slams National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s decision last month to cease funding the Michal Sela Forum’s security programs for women at risk of domestic abuse.

“Another woman was murdered while the national security minister is busy withholding budgets for victims of violence,” Pe’er says. “In the days when the minister is busy stopping the meager budget for the Michal Sela Forum, which provides protection solutions for victims of violence, and distributing weapons to anyone who needs them, we are witnessing another murder of a woman that might have been prevented.”

There were 22 incidents of femicide in Israel during 2023, a slight increase over the previous year.