The man was arrested by police and taken in for questioning, according to Channel 10 News.

Neighbors in the working-class town south of Tel Aviv said they were shocked with the brutality of the crime, carried out in broad daylight.

“I saw him take a hammer and beat her with it on the balcony in front of everyone,” said a neighbor who managed to break into the apartment and stop the assault.

“Everyone outside was shouting ‘He’s killed her,’” he told Army Radio. “After we broke the door down, we went inside and we saw him give her two more blows with the hammer.”

According to the report, the man began beating his wife after she interrupted him while he was watching a tennis match on television.

By the time they got inside, the living room was splattered with blood, he said.

Other neighbors said they heard heard the couple fighting once or twice, but never suspected any violence or abuse.

“If this kind of thing can happen in this family — an elderly couple who can barely carry their groceries home from the store — it can happen to anyone,” another neighbor told the radio station.

“I’m just so shocked that this happened. He was hitting her again and again with so much force,” the neighbor said.