JERUSALEM: Israeli police were investigating on Monday after an Israeli woman was found dead in a forest near a West Bank settlement.
Police searched the forest near the settlement of Tal Menashe after her family reported her disappearance on Sunday. They said in a statement that the body was found with signs of violence.
Israeli media identified the deceased as Esther Horgen, 52, a mother of six from Tal Menashe.
The cause of death was not immediately clear, and police issued a gag order on all details of the investigation. Settler leaders said Horgen was killed in a Palestinian attack.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz wrote on Twitter that her death was “a despicable murder” and said Israeli forces were working to apprehend those responsible.
Nearly 500,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank, which Israel captured in the 1967 war. The Palestinians want the West Bank to be part of their future state and view the settlements as illegal and an obstacle to peace, a position shared by much of the international community.
Israeli woman found dead near West Bank settlement
https://arab.news/jck4g
Israeli woman found dead near West Bank settlement
- The body was found with signs of violence
- The cause of death was not immediately clear
Lebanese government imposes immediate ban on Hezbollah’s military activities
BERUIT: Lebanon's government said Hezbollah’s overnight attack against Israel were “illegal” and imposed an immediate ban on the group’s military activities, while also demanding its hand over its weapons.
Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said only the state could decide whether to go to war and called on the Lebanese military to prevent the firing of projectiles and detain anyone involved.
The move comes after Iran-backed Hezbollah launched rockets at Israel, provoking retaliatory Israeli strikes. The government convened for five hours and 15 minutes in an early morning meeting on Monday before reaching its decision.
The Lebanese cabinet meeting, chaired by President Joseph Aoun, started at 8am with ministers discussing the repercussions Hezbollah's launching of missiles from southern Lebanon into Israel and the Israeli attacks on Lebanon.
Sources initially told Arab News that ministers were “pushing for a decisive response to Hezbollah’s recklessness, regardless of the consequences.”
Lebanese MP Melhem Khalaf said the priority was to “shelter people that are evacuating their homes in relatively safe places. What happened at dawn on Monday has taken us from one stage to another, and we don't know where they've taken us.”
As US-Israeli attacks on Iran continued, Hezbollah said it fired missiles from Lebanon into Israel early Monday in response to the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and “repeated Israeli aggressions.”
There were no reports of injuries or damage, and Israel said it had intercepted one projectile, while several fell in open areas.
Israel retaliated with strikes on Lebanon, killing at least 31 people and wounding 149 others, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. Around two thirds of the dead were in the south of the country.
Lebanon’s government said it was holding an emergency meeting after Hezbollah’s attack triggered the Israeli airstrikes.
Iran has been firing missiles at Israel and Arab states in a counter-offensive since the joint America-Israeli attack Saturday that killed Khamenei and other top Iranian officials. The war has quickly expanded to proxy forces, including Hezbollah firing out of Lebanon.
MP Bilal Abdullah told Arab News: “All the appeals issued by officials in Lebanon not to embroil us in this destructive war seem to have been in vain. We were supposed to protect Lebanon.
“Whoever launched the missiles and drones from Lebanon has slaughtered Lebanon. Displacing people is a major tragedy. We are in the winter season, and the cold is severe.”
