A couple from northern Israel was arrested earlier this month after cops uncovered dozens of hours of footage showing them subjecting their three children to severe abuse, Israel Police said on Sunday.
According to the police, the couple was arrested after the local police station received a report about three siblings aged 5, 7 and 8 being persistently absent from school.
Officers who arrived at the house to check on the three discovered the youngest sibling covered with multiple bruises. They searched the house and found dozens of cameras containing footage showing the couple abusing the siblings.
“The cameras scattered around the house documented extremely cruel abuse,” a source familiar with the details said.
“This includes footage showing the 5-year-old boy tied to a chair with a cellophane tape on his mouth, forced to sleep the whole night while handcuffed to the chair. Other videos show the couple beating the children with two whips."
The source further said that the children were also starved by the father and his partner and were only given leftovers.
A senior Northern District Police officer praised his officers for "acting with determination to prevent the suspects from destroying evidence."
The lawyer of the father's partner said that his client was "a woman who is nine months pregnant" and "denies all allegations against her despite the videos shown to her in her investigation."