Border Police fatally shoot unarmed Bedouin man in Rahat, say it was in self-defense

A Border Police officer shot and killed a Bedouin Israeli man in the southern city of Rahat overnight on Saturday, police announced.

Law enforcement said that the deceased, 50-year-old Ahmad al-Na’ami, fled officers on foot before attacking them, causing them to fear for their lives. His family rejects this version of events, noting he was physically disabled.

According to police, a group of officers operating in the city before dawn spotted a suspicious vehicle and flagged it down. The driver began to flee in his car, and police chased after him.

When he disembarked and tried to escape police on foot, two Border Police reservists chased him down while firing in the air and soon apprehended him.

Police claimed that at this point, Na’ami allegedly “forcefully resisted arrest” and attacked officers. “The officers felt their lives were in danger and at that point opened fire and the suspect was injured,” their statement read.

Na’ami was unarmed at the time he was shot in the torso, a Border Police spokesperson told the Haaretz newspaper. He was taken to Soroka Medical Center, where he succumbed to his wounds.

“This is point-blank murder. If he were Jewish this wouldn’t have happened,” his brother told Channel 12 News. According to him, the deceased formerly served as a tracker in the IDF Desert Reconnaissance Unit and leaves behind seven children.

He accused police of lying after mistaking Na’ami for someone else, adding that his slain brother is a “disabled person who is unable to get away on foot.”

The Department of Internal Police Investigations (DIPI), which probes police officers on suspicion of criminal offenses, launched an investigation into the lethal shooting.

The Border Police officer who allegedly shot the man was interrogated Saturday and barred from setting foot in police facilities for two weeks, a DIPI spokesman told The Times of Israel.

The lethal shooting sparked condemnation among Arab community leaders and politicians.

“Once again, ‘we felt our lives were at risk,’ and once again, an Arab citizen was killed by police gunfire,” said Ra’am MK Waleed Alhawashla. “When the finger is too quick on the trigger against Arab citizens, the same routine version [of events] also comes too quickly.”

The lawmaker demanded the officers’ body camera footage be released. “The public demands truthful answers, not automatic backing [of officers],” he wrote.

Since the start of 2026, four Arab citizens have been killed by police gunfire, according to the Abraham Initiatives organization. A total of 12 Arab citizens were killed by police in 2025, a sharp rise from the prior two years, which saw one and seven fatally shot by law enforcement, respectively.

In early January, DIPI investigators launched a probe into several officers on suspicion of shooting a man dead during a midnight raid in Tarabin al-Sana, then destroying the evidence. The investigation is ongoing.

Last week, police officers in Beersheba reportedly attacked, arrested and broke the nose of an Arab Israeli public prosecutor alongside two of his relatives after entering their apartment over a noise complaint.

Police accused Na’ameh of assaulting officers, but body camera footage released Friday appeared to contradict this, instead showing police pouncing on the lawyer seconds after he opened the door.