Petah Tikva woman found dead after husband allegedly strikes her with axe
Police found the 43-year-old victim with severe injuries in her apartment on Sunday night while her four children looked on; her husband was found dead a short distance away.
By Neha Delgado ·
Emergency responders discovered a 43-year-old woman dead in her Petah Tikva apartment shortly after midnight on Sunday. Police reported that the victim had sustained severe wounds and was not breathing when crews arrived. Medics pronounced her dead at the scene.
Investigators say the woman was beaten with an axe inside her home. Her four children, ranging in age up to 12, were present during the incident. Police located her husband a few hundred meters from the apartment. He appears to have taken his own life.
Police began their investigation immediately. Initial findings indicate the couple had no prior record of domestic violence. Neighbors expressed shock upon learning of the fatal attack. Authorities are continuing to examine the circumstances surrounding the deaths.
Tal Hochman, head of the Israel Women’s Network, addressed the incident on Monday. She stated that politicians are preoccupied with political maneuvering while women face lethal violence. "While politicians are busy playing musical chairs, a murderer has taken a woman's life with an axe in front of her children," Hochman said. She noted that violence against women rarely starts with murder.
The Israel Women’s Network reports that 17 women were murdered in 2026 due to gender-based violence. In 80% of those cases, the primary suspect was a current or former spouse. A 2025 report from the organization found that welfare services or police knew about domestic violence in the home in more than one-third of femicide cases. In some instances, officials were aware the suspect was unstable before the killing occurred.
The Michal Sela Forum, a non-profit focused on domestic violence, released a statement on Monday. The group identified this incident as the fourth femicide since October began. It noted that 25 people have died in domestic settings in 2026, including four men and four children. The organization described home murders as the tip of the iceberg.
Rivka Neuman, chair of the Women’s Status Advancement Division at WIZO, commented on the human cost of these statistics. She said the figures represent lives cut short and families shattered, leaving children to carry lifelong trauma. "The murder of women is not an inevitable fate," Neuman said. She urged for action before the next victim falls.
Source: The Jerusalem Post
