Palestinian man accused of murdering Israeli girlfriend as she was giving birth, torched bodies

Israeli police arrest Palestinian man after he allegedly murdered his Israeli Arab girlfriend while she was giving birth to his child, torched their bodies, and then sold her car.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

A Palestinian man living in a village on the edge of Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries was arrested after he allegedly murdered his Israeli girlfriend while she was giving birth to his child, prosecutors announced on Monday morning.

The charred remains of the woman and her newborn child were found in Al-Ram – an Arab village located inside the city limits of Jerusalem – on April 1st of this year.

The woman’s remains show signs of violence, leading Israeli forensics investigators to conclude that she had been murdered, apparently while in the midst of giving birth. The victim was still attached to her newborn child via the umbilical cord at the time of her murder.

Israeli police worked alongside the Palestinian Authority’s security service to identify and locate the suspected murderer, who has been identified as the victim’s 35-year-old boyfriend and the father of the child found alongside the woman’s remains.

The joint Israeli-Palestinian probe into the murder used advanced technology and the arrests of dozens of other suspects to identify, locate, and apprehend the suspected murderer, authorities said.

Investigators say the boyfriend murdered the victim while she was in the middle of labor and then set her and the newborn baby’s bodies on fire. He then left the scene and later sold the woman’s car.

On Monday, prosecutors announced that a preliminary indictment for aggravated murder charges has been filed. The State Attorney’s Office is expected to file a full indictment within the next few days.

The suspect has been named as Ala’a Abu Rokhev, a security guard for the company Yamit who was, prior to his arrest, worked at Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center in Jerusalem.

Israel’s public broadcaster KAN identified the victim as 24-year-old Islam Tawil, an Arab resident of eastern Jerusalem.