41-year-old woman killed with hammer, partner arrested

Polina Weisman, 41, was fatally injured on Tuesday evening in Ashdod after she was attacked inside her home with a blunt object, most likely a hammer.

She was transferred to Assuta Ashdod Medical Center in critical condition but passed away from her injuries shortly after her arrival.

Israel Police officers were called to the scene of the attack where they arrested the woman's partner on suspicion of involvement in her death.

Throughout the night and on Wednesday morning, an additional two people, including the woman's ex-husband, were arrested on suspicion of having been involved in the murder. Both the ex-husband and the partner were released from custody that evening. 

National Unity Party MK and head of the Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality Pnina Tamano-Shata called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to respond to the rise in domestic violence after the murder in Ashdod marked the fourth such murder in just two weeks.

"Prime Minister, you spoke today about the need for leadership and national responsibility," she wrote on Twitter. "Where is the government's national responsibility when a fourth woman is murdered here in just the last month?!"

"Stop messing with the coup d'état and start messing with saving lives."

Women's organizations call for government action

The head of Israel's Women's Network Hadas Daniely Yelin responded to the news of the murder, saying: "We are in an emergency situation. We still haven't had time to recover from yesterday's news before another woman was murdered in her home.

"Four women were murdered over the last two weeks and 22 in the last year. And the National Security Minister, who is responsible for eradicating violence, is silent," she continued.

"We call on Minister Ben-Gvir to hold an urgent emergency discussion with professionals and formulate an operative plan to deal with the increasing violence against women. There is a lot to do.

"The next murdered woman can be saved. It's on your watch."

Hagit Par, chairwoman of the Na'amat women's organization, also responded to the murder, saying that "Israeli society is bleeding and women are among the first to be affected.

"This place has become a madhouse and this atmosphere is certainly not conducive to tens of thousands of women in Israel who live in a violent reality. The government is busy, preoccupied with itself instead of life itself, and legislation to combat domestic violence is stuck," she concluded.

Ben-Gvir responds with promise of larger police force

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir arrived at the scene of the murder on Tuesday night, reaffirming that Israel Police's manpower must be increased in order for "security to be restored."

"It is heartbreaking to come to the scene of such events," he said in a video statement. "What is clear is that the residents deserve more police stations, more policemen, to walk the streets of a city, that's what I'm fighting for."