3 murders within hours; victims include woman stabbed to death, son arrested
Same man also suspected of moderately wounding his pregnant wife in Umm al-Fahm; man shot dead in Daburiyya amid criminal feud, another man gunned down in Tiberias, motive unclear
Stuart Winer is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
Three people were killed within hours of each other in apparently separate incidents in the north of the country Sunday evening and overnight, as a recent surge in homicides showed no sign of abating.
The deaths raised the homicide count for the past week to 14, according to a tally from Yair Golan, leader of the opposition Democrats party. Golan accused National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir of failing in his duties, which include overseeing the police force.
In the Arab Israeli town of Umm al-Fahm, a 60-year-old woman was stabbed to death, and her son was arrested as a suspect.
According to police, the son, 28, also stabbed his own wife, who is in advanced stages of pregnancy. The woman, in her 30s, was taken to the hospital in moderate condition.
Officers who arrived at the victim’s apartment were confronted by the suspect, who was covered in blood and threatened police “with a sharp object.” Police subdued the man, and he was taken into custody.
“Another murder that was not stopped in time,” the Israel Women’s Network lobby group posted to X. “Every 9 days a woman is murdered in Israel, 17 women murdered since the start of the year by domestic violence.”
According to the IWN, the murder rate in 2025 is over twice that of 2024.
Lili Ben Ami, founder of the Michal Sela Forum, which works to counter domestic violence, described the situation as a “pressure cooker that has exploded.”
Speaking to Army Radio, Ben Ami — whose organization bears the name od her murdered sister — said the government “needs to take emergency measures. Imagine what happens in a violent home when there is pressure in the country,” an apparent reference to the ongoing war.
“In the last month, on average, there has been a murder within a family every five days,” she said.
In the Arab Israeli village of Daburiyya, a man 27, was shot dead, and another, 22, was lightly injured. Police said the background to the incident was criminal activity, and an investigation was underway.
The anti-violence watchdog group the Abraham Initiatives said that since the beginning of the year, 107 members of the Arab community have been killed in violent circumstances. Of those, 91 were shot to death.
During the same period last year, there were 90 deaths, it noted.
Earlier Sunday evening, a 21-year-old resident of Kfar Hittim was shot in Tiberias. He was seriously injured and died later in the hospital.
Police said the motive for the shooting was not clear.
The victim was leaving a family event when he was shot in the back, Channel 12 reported.
According to the network, he had no criminal past and was not known to police. The shooter escaped.
The Haaretz daily reported that there have been 135 homicides in Israel since the start of the year.
On Saturday, there were two other homicides in separate incidents.
Golan wrote that Ben Gvir is a “failed minister.”
“There is no personal safety, no governance. [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is silent. He is dependent on him,” Golan posted to X, referring to Ben Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit party playing a key role in the coalition.
“You have abandoned the country; we will save it,” he vowed.
MK Naor Shiri, of the opposition Yesh Atid party, claimed that the Knesset National Security Committee, which is chaired by Otzma Yehudit MK Tzvika Fogel, deals only with relatively mundane police issues.
“No crime, no attention, and no oversight of the National Security Ministry,” he posted to X.
The crime wave has worsened considerably over the past two years since the installation of the far-right Ben Gvir as national security minister. Much of the deadly violence has happened in the Arab Israeli community.
Ben Gvir has remained silent throughout the past few days despite the high number of murders.
The Times of Israel Community.