Sahar Abu Hajaj, 48, was murdered in Lod on Wednesday morning. She was a mother of eight.
By the tally of the Abraham Initiatives, an NGO that tracks Arab Israeli crime rates, Sahar is the 88th such victim in 2025, and the fifth woman.
Sahar was the first wife of Issam Abu Hajaj, who currently resides in Turkey. She and Issam were divorced. Sahar was living in the complex in the city of the Abu Hajaj family, against their wishes.
Hajaj's husband had previous drug offenses, involvement in crime
Issam was charged in the past with drug offenses and escaped several years ago to Colombia, continued to Morocco, and finally to Turkey.
Law enforcement authorities, including courts and welfare, recommended that Sahar not continue to reside at the complex, where her life was under threat.
Over the past few years, four out of five of Issam’s partners were killed in sector violence.
Issam had another wife, Manar, 34, and a daughter, Hadra, 14. Together, they were killed in a car in 2022 in a revenge act. In 2019, Issam’s partner, Samar Khatib, 32, who was a mother of three, was killed in the Gan Raveh area, shortly after she separated from Issam. One of the people charged for her murder was one of Issam’s sons.