2 men shot and killed within hours amid unrelenting deadly crime wave

Two men were killed in apparently separate incidents overnight Tuesday, the Israel Police said, amid an unrelenting deadly crime wave that has cost five lives since the beginning of the week.

The violence began in the evening when a man in his 20s was shot and killed in a central square in the Arab town of Tira in northern Israel, as traffic and bystanders flowed along busy streets.

He was identified in media reports as Yusri Dalauna.

“The murder was carried out in front of dozens of residents, including children. We saw a gunman chasing the victim and shooting at him,” an eyewitness told the Ynet news site. “He tried to enter businesses and was unsuccessful, until he was murdered in the middle of the road. They almost murdered us, too.”

Police believe the killing was due to a feud between criminals. According to the Haaretz daily, Dalauna was the ninth person killed in violent circumstances in Tira since the start of the year.

גם הערב אלימות וירי במגזר הערבי:
תיעוד מהעיר טירה כמו בסרטונים שנלקחו מסדרת אקשן חמוש בנשק אוטומטי יורה ורץ אחרי הצעיר ויורה עליו צפו בתיעוד.

בהמשך נקבע מותו של יוסרי דלעונה, צעיר בשנות ה-20 לחייו מטירה. (בתמונה) pic.twitter.com/he8E1PyE0T

— מה חדש. What's new❓ (@Gloz111) June 10, 2025

A video taken by an eyewitness and shared on social media showed the assailant exit a white car and chase Dalauna along a street crowded with traffic. After shooting Dalauna, the gunman runs back to the waiting car, which speeds off.

“We are fed up already, we live in daily fear, every day another murder on the streets, and there is no answer. How long will the government abandon us, the Arab community?” an unnamed eyewitness told the Walla outlet.

Hours later, a man in his 30s was shot and killed in Kafr Qara, east of Caesarea.

Police were said to believe that killing was also part of a criminal feud.

The deaths came after three people were killed in separate incidents overnight Sunday.

Violent crime has worsened considerably over the past two years since the installation of the far-right Itamar Ben Gvir as national security minister, responsible for the police force. Much of the deadly violence has happened in the Arab Israeli community.

Many community leaders blame the police, who they say have failed to crack down on powerful criminal organizations and largely ignore the violence. They also point to decades of neglect and discrimination by government offices as the root cause of the problem.

Speaking to Ynet on Tuesday, before the latest killings, Haitam Taha, the mayor of the Arab town of Kfar Qasim, described being “helpless, close to giving up. The Arab community is part of the country, and at the moment it is very clearly neglected and abandoned.”

According to figures from the anti-violence watchdog The Abraham Initiatives, there have been 108 homicides in the Arab community since the start of the year. During the same period last year, there were 90 deaths in the community.

Ben Gvir has remained silent throughout the past few days despite the high number of murders.