Israel Police found a body today they believe is Aaron Sofer, the missing haredi yeshiva student, the Jerusalem Post reported.
No further details are yet available.
Sofer went missing in the Jerusalem Forest Friday and has been the suject of a massive search since then.
Update 9:39 am CDT: There is one more definate report that this is Sofer's body. But it is relying on an unnamed spokesman for a haredi EMT organization and, while it may be correct, there is no official confirmation yet that it is.
Update 9:44 am CDT – Ha'aretz reports:
A body believed to be that of a U.S. Jewish seminary student who went missing near Jerusalem last week was found on Thursday.
The area where the body was found was closed off , and a forensics team was at the scene, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
Aaron sofer, 23, from New Jersey, vanished on Friday while taking a hike in a forest not far from Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust museum, Rosenfeld said earlier.
"He was hiking with a friend, making their way up a hill, and they lost contact," he said, adding that police were still trying to establish if Soffer had a hiking accident or if a crime had occurred, including whether he "might have been kidnapped."…
Update 10:46 am CDT – Multiple haredi media sources, now including Yeshiva World, say it is Sofer.
The body was found near Ein Kerem in the Jerusalem Forest in a previously unsearched area.
There is no word yet on the exact time of death or the cause of death.
According to some sources, the hasidic news site VIN and the site run by haredi PR flack Yossi Gestetner posted reports announcing Sofer's death before Sofer's family had all been notified by police.
The source of those reports appears to have been a haredi activist speaking for the haredi Hatzalah EMT group, which had participated in the search for Sofer.
Update 11:14 am CDT – CNN is reporting that the body is Sofer's.
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