Israeli man indicted for killing ex-wife in front of her daughter

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Israel pressed charges Thursday against a 33-year-old man suspected of killing his ex-wife in November.

Rasha Sitawi, 32, was killed in her home in the Galilee village of Maghar in November last year. Police said Sitawi was at home with her 10-year-old daughter when the shooting occurred.

Nidal Dagar, from the Arab-Israeli village of Rameh in northern Israel, was charged with murder in aggravated circumstances, abuse of a minor, obstruction of justice and other offenses. The indictment did not provide a motive for the killing, but noted that Sitawi had divorced her husband 16 months earlier.

The indictment states that after the couple divorced in July 2020, Sitawi moved with her three young children from Rameh to Maghar. Last November, Dagar left the place where he had been staying with the intent of murdering his ex-wife in her home. Wearing a helmet and carrying a pistol, he rode to the house on a scooter with its license plates removed.

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He climbed the stairs leading to his ex-wife’s house, knocked on the door and entered, still wearing a helmet. According to the indictment, only Sitawi and her 10-year-old daughter were at home at the time. The woman tried to protect herself by standing behind her daughter, but Dagar advanced toward her and fired from a distance of 2 meters (about 6 feet).

The bullet hit Sitawi in the head, but Dagar continued to advance toward the victim, firing two more shots from a meter away. A medical team that arrived at the scene shortly afterward pronounced her death.

The indictment said Dagar left the scene on his scooter immediately after the murder. As he left he crashed into a bus carrying students on a school trip but continued until he reached the outskirts of Maghar, where he hid the scooter. He later disposed of the pistol, helmet and coat he was wearing during the killing.