3 arrested after Kafr Kanna shooting that wounded 6 members of 1 family

Police on Sunday arrested three suspects after masked gunmen opened fire at a home in Kafr Kanna the night before, wounding six members of the same family.

Two of the wounded were seriously hurt in the attack, which police say was part of an ongoing clan dispute.

A statement from authorities said officers operating overnight raided “several compounds,” nabbing three suspects and seizing an M-16, a grenade and ammunition that had been hidden, along with two Carlo-style submachine guns and a pistol, they said.

Cops also prevented a firefight, they said.

“The police call on official and unofficial leaders to act to thwart violent and bullying behavior, incidents of which cast a heavy shadow on relationships between residents,” the statement said.

The shooting capped a bloody week in Arab Israeli communities that included a quadruple homicide in the northern town of Abu Snan and the killing of Tira’s city manager.

On Sunday morning, a man was shot dead on a northern highway. According to the Abraham Initiatives anti-violence advocacy group, the shooting brought the number of Arabs in Israel killed in homicides this year to 157, an all-time high and more than double the figure on the same date in 2022.

The killings are part of a violent crime wave that has engulfed the Arab community in recent years. Many community leaders blame the police, whom 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.