Israeli woman found dead near settlement in West Bank

Israeli police opened an investigation on Monday into the death of an Israeli woman whose body was found on Sunday near a settlement in the north of the occupied West Bank.

Esther Horgen, a 52-year-old mother of six from Tal Menashe settlement, was announced dead at the scene after Israeli police searched a forest near Tel Menashe and found her body, which showed evidence of violence. 

Horgen's family had earlier in the day told police she had not returned from a run.

Israeli police and forensic teams have gathered evidence, and suspect that the killing was "politically motivated", according to Haaretz.

Yossi Dagan, the head of the Israeli Samaria Regional Council, a local body for settlements, told Kan Bet public radio that Horgan was “violently murdered".

Benny Gantz, Israel's defence minister, said: "Security forces are already working to catch the heinous killer. We will never accept a reality in which human life is rendered worthless.”

There are nearly 500,000 Israeli settlers living in the West Bank, which Israel occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.