JERUSALEM: Israel on Thursday arrested a Palestinian man in connection with the murder of a Jewish settler in the occupied West Bank, in a case that raised tensions in the area.
Esther Horgan, a 52-year-old mother of six and a French-Israeli dual national, was found dead Monday in a forest near the Tal Menashe settlement in the north of the Palestinian territory.
Relatives said she had gone out jogging on Sunday and never returned.
A statement from Israel’s domestic security agency, the Shin Bet, said: “a suspect in the murder of the late Esther Horgan… has been detained,” following a coordinated effort involving the agency, the army and police.
It described the detained man as “a Palestinian suspect from the Jenin area”, who it said was being interrogated by Shin Bet agents.
Israel’s army said in a statement later Thursday that its soldiers in the same area had “apprehended additional suspects involved in the murder for further questioning”.
“A number of suspects have been apprehended for assisting and facilitating the murder of Esther Horgan” following the joint operation over the past two days, an army official was quoted as saying.
Defence Minister Benny Gantz said Israel had “used every means at the disposal of the Israeli security forces to swiftly find and take into custody a suspect in the shocking murder of Esther Horgan”.
Earlier this week, the army had reinforced its presence in the West Bank in response to surging tensions partly linked to Horgan’s murder.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Monday that Israel would “settle accounts” with Horgan’s killer and President Reuven Rivlin visited her family earlier Thursday.
All Jewish settlements in the West Bank are regarded as illegal by much of the international community.
But the settler population has grown in recent years.
There are currently some 450,000 Jewish settlers in the West Bank, living among an estimated 2.8 million Palestinians.
Tensions between Palestinians and Jewish settlers in the West Bank have repeatedly led to violence.