Border Police (file)
Border Police (file)Kobi Gideon/Flash90

An indictment and arrest warrant was issued Thursday morning for a father accused of violent crimes against his eight children, the Kikar Hashabbat Hebrew news site reported.

According to the indictment, the children were frequently beaten by their father. It stated that the father would hit their hands and feet and whip them with a belt, a cane, and with shoes.

Their father would also bite them and pull out their hair during the beatings, as well as step on them while they did their homework.

The suspicion that the children were being abused began when one of the daughters started coming to school with bruises. It was discovered that the father had been abusing his eight children for years.

The mother has also been accused of abuse for failing to take any steps to put an end to her husband's violent actions or alerting the authorities to the beatings. She has been released to house arrest.

The police issued a statement about the mother's role in the abuse, saying: "The Israel Police will do everything in its power to prevent the abuse of minors and defenseless persons, whose homes should be a stronghold to protect them from harm, and who are the most affected [when those homes fail to be places of safety]. She should have protected them from all harm, but instead she [contributed to their abuse] and caused unimaginable damage to them."

The warrant extends the father's arrest until the end of the proceedings against him.