TEL AVIV: Scores of marchers carrying black coffins held a mock funeral on Thursday to raise the alarm over the growing number of women being killed in incidents of domestic violence across Israel.
The marchers, most of them women, marched silently through the streets of Tel Aviv carrying 15 black coffins, each with a wreath of red roses laid on top, an AFP correspondent said. Police put the number at around 100 people.
Organizers said they were marching to remember the 18 women battered to death by their partners this year in a bid to raise awareness of the issue on the UN International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
Last year, 15 women died in circumstances of violence in the home.
According to the Women’s International Zionist Organization (WIZO), which organized the demonstration, around 200,000 women per year suffer violence from their partners.
Situations of violence in the home also affect some 600,000 children, who either suffer directly from abuse or witness it, WIZO says.
"Across the world on November 25 people are marking the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and these coffins remember the 18 women who have been killed this year by family members," said Gila Oshrat, chairwoman of WIZO Israel’s Department for the Advancement and Status of Women.
Of the 18 killed this year, seven were Arab women, three were Ethiopians and three were from the former Soviet Union.
"Our message to those involved in setting policy is that we need to stop the wave of violence engulfing the country, which is hitting women in particular," Oshrat told AFP.
"We need the resources to be able to help those women in situations of violence."
There are currently 13 shelters for women suffering from domestic violence, although campaigners say a lack of funding to help women start a new life is forcing many back to their violent partners.
Last year, 748 women, accompanied by 1,059 children, went to live in a refuge after suffering from domestic violence, figures from the welfare ministry showed on Wednesday.
The numbers represent an eight percent increase on 2008, when 692 women, and 1,016 children, went to live in sheltered accommodation, the ministry said.
