Police arrest 18 suspects thought to be involved in shooting of child in southern Israel

Police arrest 18 suspects thought to be involved in the shooting of an eight-year-old boy yesterday near Tel Sheva, a Negev Bedouin town.

“Over the course of the night and today, 18 participants in the criminal, bloody conflict between families were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the incident and planning a revenge attack,” says a law enforcement spokesperson this evening.

The victim of yesterday’s shooting, Yousef Awad Abu Rqayiq, was being driven as part of a wedding convoy Friday afternoon when masked gunmen opened fire on the cars, and shot him at close range, killing him and injuring six others, one of whom is in serious condition.

Over 80 bullet casings were recovered at the crime scene.

One of the convoy’s drivers took the wounded to Soroka Medical Center, where Abu Rqayiq was pronounced dead by medical staff.

Police say the shooting incident was a revenge attack carried out as part of an ongoing blood feud between families in Tel Sheva.

The murder rate in Arab society has spiraled in recent years, claiming over 90 lives since the start of 2025, with many community leaders blaming police for not doing enough to deter violent crime.

Speaking anonymously to Channel 12, a Tel Sheva resident tells the outlet earlier today that “there are no police in the south.”

“There are no officers, there is no presence on the roads… They [police] come here once every few months, put on a show for Minister [Itamar] Ben Gvir, do a silly operation and then disappear,” the resident laments.

Last Thursday, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir visited Rahat for a large police operation in the Bedouin city meant to combat crime in the Arab sector. The operation focused mainly on financial crime and illegal construction, leading to asset seizures and raids on dozens of businesses.

The same day that Ben Gvir, police chief Danny Levy and over 1,000 police officers were in Rahat, a masked man entered a laundromat in the city and shot an employee, moderately injuring him. The culprit has not been arrested.