A total of 241 children in Israel have been left motherless following the killing of 88 women in their families from the beginning of 2020 to November 8, 2026. This is shown by a report from the Michal Sela Forum on the consequences of domestic violence for children.
The most difficult year was 2025, when 51 children lost their mothers. A year earlier, their number was 24, representing an increase of 112.5%. From the beginning of 2026 until the report was compiled, a further 33 children joined this group.
Children witnessed the killings
According to the data, over the past five weeks, four children witnessed the killing of their mothers. One of them was a two-month-old baby. In two of the cases, children aged 5 and 12 opened the door to police officers who arrived following an alert.
The report also records the killing of children themselves in a family setting. Between 2020 and 2026, 12 children killed by family members and two attempted murders were recorded. In 2026 alone, four children were killed by their fathers, while another survived an attempted killing by his stepfather.
Over a period of five weeks, five mothers and a fiancée were stabbed to death by their partners in their homes, the report says. In some of the cases, children were present at the crime scene.
Differences between communities
Of the 88 mothers killed, 46 were Jewish, 35 belonged to the Arab community, four were foreign nationals, and their origin was not specified in three cases. Of the 241 children, 127 are from the Jewish community and 102 are from the Arab community.
The forum says the data was compiled from media reports and information from the victims’ relatives, as there is no single official state registry that regularly shows how many children have lost their mothers in a family killing.
„Who in Israel is speaking about these children? This is an invisible front“, says Michal Sela Forum founder Lili Ben Ami.She calls on the state to establish a professional support system that intervenes from the moment of the killing, helps relatives who have taken responsibility for caring for the children, and prevents them from being separated because of administrative delays.
Sources: israelhayom.co.il, i24news.tv, wireisrael.com