Four killed in northern Israel over weekend, amid crime wave wracking Arab community

Four people were killed on Friday and Saturday in separate shootings in northern Israel amid the unrelenting wave of deadly crime that continues to plague Israel’s Arab community.

On Saturday, a man in his 20s was shot dead in the Druze town of Maghar.

The victim, identified as 22-year-old Farid Issa Mazlavat, was pronounced dead at the scene of the shooting by emergency services after unsuccessful resuscitation efforts.

The Israel Police have opened an investigation into the circumstances of the shooting, believing it to have been criminally motivated, meaning not nationalistic in nature.

His murder followed two other deadly incidents the previous day, also in northern Israel.

Brothers Assad and Mohammed Saara, aged 29 and 21, from Tamra, were shot and killed near Nazareth on Friday night.

One of the brothers was shot dead upon the pair’s arrival in the town of Yafia, before he even managed to exit the car they were in. The assailants chased the other brother, who fled on foot before being killed at point-blank range.

Assad was meant to get married on Saturday.

על פי המידע המתפרסם, קורבנות הרצח הכפול ביפיע הם האחים אסעד ומוחמד סארה, בני משפחה שמוצאם מטמרה ומתגוררים בעיר נוף הגליל. לפי הדיווחים הראשוניים, זמן קצר לפני האירוע חילקו השניים הזמנות לחתונתו של אחד מהם, אך רגעי השמחה הפכו לטרגדיה קשה עם רציחתם בירי pic.twitter.com/cyoYhct7mI

— כל החדשות בזמן אמת (@Saher_News_24_7) June 5, 2026

Soon after, in Tamra, Malek Markian, a resident of the city, was shot and killed while playing cards with his family in what appeared to be a revenge killing.

The assailant reportedly hid behind a wall before firing and killing Markian.

The Ynet news outlet quoted relatives as saying that someone had asked the shooter why he was there, to which he responded that “I came to deliver an invitation to a wedding,” in what appeared to be a reference to the killing of Assad Saara hours earlier

According to the Abraham Initiatives, 125 Arabs have been killed in Israel this year.

The toll consists of 122 people with Israeli citizenship and three with residency permits.

Last year was the bloodiest year on record for the community, with 252 homicides, according to the watchdog.

The spike in homicides in the Arab community since 2023 overlaps with the term of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who took office at the end of 2022 and is responsible for law enforcement. Critics have accused the far-right minister and police of neglecting the Arab community.