Mother-of-six murdered in West Bank, in what police believe was terror attack

Times of Israel ^ | 12/21/2020 | Judah Ari Gross and Toi Staff

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Body of Esther Horgen found in forest after she went for a run Sunday afternoon and didn’t return home; police say her body bore signs of violence; no arrests made

An Israeli woman in her 50s was found dead in a northern West Bank forest in the early hours of Monday after she went for a run on her own a day earlier, with authorities investigating the case as a suspected terror attack.

Police said in a statement that there were signs of violence to her body and that the woman’s death was considered a suspected murder. The Shin Bet security service was also taking part in the investigation. The woman was later identified as Esther Horgen, 52, of the Tal Menashe settlement, a mother of six. The police and Shin Bet were “increasingly convinced” that the killing was terror-related, security officials said Monday afternoon, though the police officially said that “all directions are being investigated.” The Shin Bet declined to officially comment on the matter.

The head of the Samaria Regional Council, Yossi Dagan, said Horgen was killed with a large rock.

There were no initial reports of any arrests. Police requested and received a court-issued gag order on Monday morning, barring media outlets from identifying the identities of any suspects or any other details of the investigation.

Despite the gag order, security officials told reporters that there was growing evidence to indicate that this was a nationalistically-based crime, though it appeared unlikely to have been carried out by a well-trained, established terrorist group, given the brutal and unmethodical manner in which Horgen was killed. The officials said that investigators were looking into the possibility that the suspected terrorist was an Arab-Israeli from the nearby Wadi Ara area.

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