Woman Found Dead in Ashdod Apartment, Husband Arrested on Suspicion of Involvement

A woman in her 60s was found dead this morning, Sunday, in her apartment in Ashdod with signs of violence on her body. Magen David Adom personnel were called to the scene after a report of an unconscious woman, and a paramedic said the team found her without a pulse or breathing and had to pronounce her dead at the scene.

Police from the Ashdod station opened an investigation after the initial findings. Forensic investigators arrived at the apartment to document the scene and collect evidence. The husband, who was present at the location, was arrested on suspicion of involvement in the death and was taken in for questioning to determine the circumstances.

The incident comes just days after a separate, high profile domestic murder case in central Israel. Last Thursday, the Lod District Court sentenced Moshe Atiyas to life in prison plus two additional years for the brutal murder of his ex-wife and mother of his three children, Sigalit Barakha, in their former shared home in Lod in February 2023.

According to the verdict, Atiyas made a deliberate decision to kill her, struck her on the head with a weight while she was in bed, then stabbed her to make sure she was dead. He then went to the kitchen, washed his hands, made coffee, called Magen David Adom to report that he had killed his wife, and fled by car. The court rejected his claims about his mental state, ruled the murder was planned, and ordered him to pay her family the maximum compensation of 258,000 shekels.