Michal Halimi
Michal HalimiPolice Spokespersons Unit

Police filed an indictment this morning in the Tel Aviv District Court against Muhammad Harouf, a 29-year-old resident of Nablus, for the murder of Adam resident Michal Halimi.

Harouf was also charged with grand theft auto, conspiracy to commit a crime, trading in a stolen vehicle, entering Israel illegally and credit card fraud.

Despite the killer claiming he had committed the act for nationalistic reasons, police say the findings showed that the murder was committed due to a romance gone wrong.

The indictment includes another defendant, Etir Loisi, 20, from Tulkarem, who was indicted for conspiracy to commit a crime, entering Israel illegally and trading in a stolen vehicle.

Halimi was in a relationship with Harouf, and was in an advanced stage of pregnancy at the time of her murder.

Harouf killed Halimi's death by strangling her until she turned blue and then hitting her on the head with heavy concrete bricks. After making sure she was dead, Harouf buried the body in the Holon sands, stole her car and credit card that was in the possession of the deceased and fled the to Taibeh.

Harouf subsequently contacted Loisi, and arranged for him to sell Halimi's car in Palestinian Authority territory. Loisi sold the stolen vehicle in Tulkarm for NIS 2,700, of which he transferred NIS 2,500 to Harouf. The killer also unsuccessfully tried to withdraw money from an ATM using Halimi's cdredit card.

Police recommended that the killer be denied bail due to the serious nature of the crime. The indictment said that Harouf "planned to kill the deceased, even though she was pregnant and was in a romantic relationship with him for a long time. In light of the above, no alternative to detention is sufficient to relieve the danger posed by the detainees."