Man arrested for suspected murder after body found in West Bank
Both suspect and victim are Jewish; court partially lifts gag order on discovery of body in Jordan Valley last week; incident initially prompted speculation of terror motive
A Jewish Israeli suspect has been arrested on suspicion of murder in the case of a body that was found last week in the West Bank.
The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court partially lifted a gag order on details of the case, clarifying that both the suspect and the alleged victim are Jewish and that the Israel Police believes it is a criminal case rather than terror.
Though a ban was initially put in place against publishing any details, the magistrate said “in order to prevent public panic, as detailed in the request, I am making an exception to the publication ban because this is a case of the murder of a Jewish man by a Jewish suspect.”
The body was found by local Palestinian residents on July 12 in a date palm grove in the Jordan Valley.
They informed Palestinian Authority police, who handed the body over to their Israeli counterparts.
Due to the location of the body and its discovery during a time of rising tensions in the West Bank and a spate of recent terror attacks, speculation initially swirled that the killing was motivated by terror, Channel 12 reported.
The suspect, a resident of Tel Aviv, 25, is alleged to have murdered the 51-year-old victim from Rehovot, and then burned his body.
No further details are permitted for publication, including the names of the suspect and the victim.
The Times of Israel Community.