Woman, 43, found dead in Petah Tikva; police suspect her husband

A 43-year-old woman was pronounced dead after a violent incident on Yosef Sprinzak Street in Petah Tikva late at night, and police have opened a murder investigation. According to Magen David Adom, its emergency dispatch centre for the Yarkon region received a call at 00:02 about a woman injured in an act of violence. Its medics and paramedics said they found her with no pulse, not breathing and severely wounded, and declared her dead at the scene.

Her husband was later also found dead. The Times of Israel reported, citing police and police sources quoted in Hebrew media, that the husband is suspected of using an axe to kill her, with the couple's four children inside the home, before taking his own life. Ynet reported the same suspicion and said the attack took place in front of the children. Police say officers are at the scene and an investigation is under way.

What the first responders described

Magen David Adom, usually shortened to MDA, is Israel's national emergency medical and ambulance service, and its 101 line is the country's number for medical emergencies. Two of its paramedics, Dor Tzabari and Mohammed Fawaka, spoke to N12, the news arm of one of Israel's main commercial television channels. They called it a "very difficult scene" and said the injured woman was unconscious when they were brought to her. They said they carried out medical checks, but her injury was "critical" and they had no choice but to pronounce her dead.

In the first hour after the call, reports described a manhunt. News.co.il and N12 both said police were working to locate those involved and that the circumstances were still being examined. The husband's death was reported later in the night.

Where the husband was found: accounts differ

The reports do not agree on where the man's body was found, and this article does not try to settle the question.

• The Times of Israel said police reported the husband was found dead a few streets away, and, citing police sources quoted in Hebrew media, that he died after officers had pursued him for an hour.
• Ynet said that, according to the suspicion, he left the home after the attack and then killed himself.
• N12 reported that a man was found dead next to the woman at the scene, and that he is suspected of murdering his partner with an axe and then taking his own life.

The weapon and the suspected sequence of events are attributed in all cases to police suspicion or to police sources, not to a completed investigation.

About Petah Tikva

Petah Tikva is a large city in central Israel, east of Tel Aviv, and part of the densely populated metropolitan area around it. MDA's Yarkon region, which handled the call, covers the area. The scene described in the reports is a residential flat on Yosef Sprinzak Street.

How the story developed

Early bulletins from several outlets, including a Ynet alert and The Times of Israel's first liveblog entry, reported only that a woman had been found dead and that police suspected murder. The Times of Israel's initial item said MDA medics found her without vital signs. The identification of the husband as the suspect, the reference to an axe and the report of his death followed in later updates from Ynet, N12 and The Times of Israel.

What the reports do not say

None of the reports names the woman or her husband, or gives the husband's age. They do not say how old the children are, whether any of them were physically hurt, or who is now caring for them. The reports do not explain the cause of the husband's death beyond the police suspicion of suicide, and, as set out above, they differ on where he was found. There is no information on whether police had any prior contact with the family, and no official police statement setting out the findings has been quoted beyond confirmation that an investigation is open.