Woman found dead in her apartment in the north; son arrested

A woman in her 60s was found dead on Thursday in her apartment in the Druze village of Ein al-Asad in northern Israel.

According to first responders, the woman was found with several stab wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene.

The victim was found by her spouse, who alerted the authorities.

An initial investigation named the victim’s son, a 26-year-old schizophrenic patient, as the prime suspect.

Police suspect he killed his mother and escaped using the family car. Shortly afterwards, he was involved in a car accident and taken into custody.

In a separate incident earlier this month, Shay Selami, 36, was charged with murder for allegedly stabbing his wife, Yafit Furian, 30, at least 10 times, slitting her throat and setting her body on fire after she told him that she planned to leave him.

Activists have long complained that not enough is done to prevent violence against women in Israel, particularly in cases known to the authorities.

A study by the Hebrew University-based Israel Observatory on Femicide examining the first half of 2022 found a 71 percent increase in femicide relative to the same period last year — 12 compared to seven.

In July, outgoing prime minister Yair Lapid addressed the scourge of violence against women, saying it was “a stain on the country and it cannot continue.”