Police issue gag order on details surrounding disappearance of Mali, Liel Yahalomi in Vienna

Israeli police have imposed a gag order on the investigation into the disappearance of Mali and Liel Yahalomi, who went missing in Vienna last week. A judge approved a request to prohibit the publication of any details from the ongoing probe.

The mother and daughter were last seen in Vienna on Friday and failed to board their scheduled return flight from Prague on Tuesday night. Austrian police, the Israeli Embassy, and the local Chabad community are reportedly without any leads. The vacation apartment where they were staying was found empty of their belongings.

Initial investigations reviewed footage of the two leaving their hotel room voluntarily. Their phones were later located near a Vienna train station, after which their trail went cold. This has raised suspicions of abduction, though initial police inquiries into Mali Yahalomi's alleged involvement in an embezzlement scheme were ruled out. The possibility that they deliberately fled and are in hiding for unclear reasons is also being considered, as no bodies or bloodstains have been found.

Amir Rudnik, Mali Yahalomi's brother-in-law, stated that the family has limited information and is relying on contacts within the Foreign Ministry and the consulate in Vienna. He described the trip as a normal mother-daughter vacation for a "normal, close-knit family."

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We don't have much information. We have a contact person at the Foreign Ministry situation room, and we also have a representative from the consulate in Vienna. They've started checking, but so far there's nothing.