Man and woman shot dead in suspected double homicide in north

A man and a woman were shot and killed in Yarka, a Druze village in northern Israel, on Tuesday, the latest incident in a yearslong violent crime wave sweeping through Israel’s Arab community.

Paramedics pronounced the two victims dead at the scene after unsuccessful attempts to resuscitate them, the Magen David Adom emergency service said.

The man was estimated to be in his 30s, and the woman in her early 20s, paramedics said.

In footage from the scene, police and paramedics could be seen gathered on a road near a grove that had been blocked off with barrier tape.

The Israel Police launched an investigation into the incident and began searching for suspects, but as of Tuesday evening, had yet to report any arrests.

The incident came after two other Arab citizens of Israel were killed overnight in separate shootings.

Ahmad Issa, a man in his 20s, was shot and killed in Kafr Qasim in central Israel. He was taken to a hospital by paramedics but soon pronounced dead by medical staff.

Hours earlier, 27-year-old Sabrine al-Ataiqah was found unconscious and suffering from a critical bullet wound to the head near Rahat, a Bedouin city in the south. She was treated on site before being transferred to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

The young mother was survived by a son who is not yet two years old, according to the Ynet news site.

Israel’s Arab society has been suffering from a festering wave of violent crime, which has significantly worsened in the past three years. The onset of the war with Iran in late February saw a brief dip in the deadly shootings, but they soon ramped back up, bringing the number of homicide victims in the community this year to 93.

To date, the number of Arab homicide victims is 18 percent higher than last year’s record-breaking figure at the same point in time, according to the Abraham Initiatives, a watchdog that tracks killings in Arab society.