Four killed in separate shootings, one by cops, as deadly crime surges in Arab society

Four men were shot dead Wednesday, one by a police officer, in three separate incidents on a particularly violent night as a deep wave grips Arab society.

The shootings included a double homicide in Haifa, the killing of a Bedouin man in the Negev, and the shooting of an 18-year-old motorcyclist in northern Israel by a Border Police officer.

The bloodshed took place as much of the Arab community broke fast for the first time this year, after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan began the night before.

In Haifa, two young Arab men were found unconscious and in critical condition by paramedics outside a corner store, Magen David Adom said. The victims, identified as Ghalib Balqis, 34, and Suhail Abu Jabal, 26, were pronounced dead on the spot.

In Lakiya, a man identified by Arab-language outlets as Osama Abu Abaid was shot and killed in his town of Lakiya, a Bedouin town in southern Israel.

Police said the victim was rushed to a hospital in critical condition by paramedics, but succumbed to his wounds.

In both incidents, police forces arrived at the scene, launched an investigation and began searching for suspects. No arrests have been reported in connection to either shooting.

Later Wednesday night, an Arab Israeli teen succumbed to his wounds after he was shot by a Border Police officer in northern Israel.

The deceased, 18-year-old Ahmad Ashkar, was shot while fleeing law enforcement on his motorcycle in Kabul, a village in the western Galilee. Footage of the incident shows him crashing into a car parked on the road and being flung from his motorcycle, apparently after being shot.

Footage of the shooting in Kabul, northern Israel, in which a Border Police officer shot at an 18 y/o Arab citizen during chase, causing him to crash into parked car and be thrown off his motorcycle pic.twitter.com/6pCASzc9Xf

— charlie summers (@cbsu03) February 18, 2026

Police confirmed the shooting, saying the officer fired at “a suspicious motorcyclist who did not heed officers’ calls to stop.” The policeman who shot Ashkar was interrogated by investigators in the Department of Internal Police Investigations (DIPI) later Wednesday night.

National Security Itamar Ben Gvir praised the officer who shot Ashkar. “Those who endanger the lives of our police officers must be neutralized,” the far-right politician wrote on X. “I bless the fighter who took action; he has full backing from me.”

However the victim’s father, Muhammad Ashkar, insisted his son had no violent history and did not pose a threat to officers. The teenager fled police because he lacked a valid driver’s license, he told Ynet.

The father, who witnessed the shooting, noted that police blocked off both ends of the street where they were chasing his son, which he said would have allowed for his arrest.

“I was there, and I told them [police] that my son would stop. They could have easily arrested him but they chose to shoot,” he told Nas Radio, a Nazareth-based station.

One of the Border Police officers at the scene was then filmed throwing a stun grenade at a crowd that gathered near the teenager and shouted angrily at police as he bled out on the ground, before an ambulance arrived to collect him.

After Border Police fatally shoot 18 y/o Arab motorcyclist during chase, an officer tosses a stun grenade at the crowd gathered near victim's body pic.twitter.com/ROCYtV6OZ5

— charlie summers (@cbsu03) February 18, 2026

The killings on Wednesday brought this year’s toll of Arab victims of crime-related incidents up to 55 within just two months. The soaring death toll follows the deadliest year on record for Arab Israelis, in which 252 were killed in crime-related incidents over the course of 2025.

If homicides continue at their current pace, 2026 stands to be much deadlier for Israel’s Arab minority than the preceding year.

Local politicians and religious figures have denounced the crime sweeping their communities, but most place blame on law enforcement, accusing police of neglecting to solve homicides when the victims are Arab.

The spiraling homicide rate, which is largely fueled by mafia-style organized crime, has recently been the focus of escalating protests.

On Sunday, relatives of Arab homicide victims met with President Isaac Herzog, who noted that there has been a “very large awakening” over the issue of violent crime in the past month.

The families presented a list of demands to Herzog, including the sacking of Ben Gvir, whose tenure has seen a twofold rise in Arab community homicides, and urged him to secure them a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the issue.