Authorities in Israel have found a body they suspect may belong to a 23-year-old New Jersey man, nearly a week after he vanished while hiking with a friend in Jerusalem Forest, sources told Fox News.
Israeli police sources told Fox News' Jerusalem Bureau that a body has been found in the forest not far from where Aron Sofer, of Lakewood, disappeared last Friday while hiking with a friend. Sources also said the search for the Yeshiva teen have now been halted.
The Jerusalem Post reports that police believe the body may be that of Aaron Sofer, of Lakewood, N.J. Israel News Feed tweeted several photos oof police activity in the area.
Sofer's parents, Moshe and Chulda, had flown from New Jersey to Israel to assist in the search and have offered a $30,000 reward for information leading to the whereabouts of their son, an Orthodox student who had been studying at a Jewish yeshiva for the past year.
Israeli police previously said they were probing all possible avenues in the investigation, including the possibility that Sofer may have been kidnapped by Palestinian militants while navigating a steep incline with a friend in the Beit Zayit area of the forest.
U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, a Republican from New Jersey, held a news conference in Sofer's hometown on Tuesday and said U.S. and Israeli officials are 'leaving no stone unturned' in their search efforts. Despite hundreds of individuals actively searching for Sofer, officials have yet to find 'any trace' of the young man, according to his cousin.
A State Department spokesperson told FoxNews.com that they were aware of the reports but couldn't offer further information due to privacy considerations.
Entities 0 Name: Sofer Count: 4 1 Name: New Jersey Count: 3 2 Name: Israel Count: 2 3 Name: Lakewood Count: 2 4 Name: Israeli Count: 2 5 Name: U.S. Count: 2 6 Name: Chris Smith Count: 1 7 Name: Yeshiva Count: 1 8 Name: Beit Zayit Count: 1 9 Name: Aron Sofer Count: 1 10 Name: N.J. Israel News Feed Count: 1 11 Name: State Department Count: 1 12 Name: Chulda Count: 1 13 Name: Jerusalem Post Count: 1 14 Name: Fox News ' Jerusalem Bureau Count: 1 15 Name: Aaron Sofer Count: 1 16 Name: FoxNews.com Count: 1 17 Name: Moshe Count: 1 18 Name: Fox News Count: 1 19 Name: Jerusalem Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1zxlh33 Title: A Former AP Correspondent Explains How and Why His Colleagues Get Israel So Wrong Description: The Israel Story Is there anything left to say about Israel and Gaza? Newspapers this summer have been full of little else. Television viewers see heaps of rubble and plumes of smoke in their sleep. A representative article from a recent issue of The New Yorker described the summer's events by ...
