The body of a Israeli-Moldovan rabbi who went missing in the United Arab Emirates has been found, the Israeli government has announced.
Israel said the rabbi had been killed in what they referred to as a “heinous antisemitic terror incident”.
A statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Israel “will act with all means to seek justice with the criminals responsible for his death”.
Zvi Kogan, 28, who ran a Kosher shop in Dubai, went missing on Thursday and there were suspicions he had been kidnapped.
His disappearance came as Iran, which supports Hamas and Hezbollah, had been threatening to retaliate after a wave of air strikes Israel carried out in October in response to an Iranian ballistic missile attack.
The Emirati government gave no immediate acknowledgement that Mr Kogan had been found dead.
His wife, Rivky, is a US citizen who lived with him in the UAE. She is the niece of Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg, who was killed in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
The Chabad Lubavitch movement, a prominent and highly observant branch of Orthodox Judaism, said Mr Kogan was last seen in Dubai.
It described Mr Kogan as being an emissary of the branch, which is based in Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighbourhood in New York.
Early on Sunday, the UAE’s state-run WAM news agency reported Mr Kogan’s disappearance but pointedly did not acknowledge he held Israeli citizenship, referring to him only as being Moldovan.
The Emirati Interior Ministry described Mr Kogan as being “missing and out of contact”, adding: “Specialised authorities immediately began search and investigation operations upon receiving the report.”
The Rimon Market, a Kosher grocery shop Mr Kogan managed on Dubai’s busy Al Wasl Road, was shut on Sunday.
Israel’s largely ceremonial president, Isaac Herzog, condemned the killing and thanked Emirati authorities for “their swift action”. He said he trusts they “will work tirelessly to bring the perpetrators to justice”.
Additional reporting from Associated Press
