Man fatally shot in northern city of Umm al-Fahm; 4 suspects arrested

A man in the northern city of Umm al-Fahm was shot dead Thursday evening in an apparent murder.

The victim, 30, was taken by paramedics to a local hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

Police arrested four suspects, who tried to flee the scene by car. The four were caught with guns on them and taken for questioning, according to police.

The victim was not immediately named.

The incident came two days after another man was shot dead in Umm al-Fahm, amid a rash of killings in the Arab Israeli community, which has been racked by violent crime in recent years.

According to the Abraham Initiatives, an anti-violence monitor, 87 Arabs have been killed in Israel since the start of the year, 76 by firearms.

Overall, there have been over 90 killings nationwide since 2023 began, more than twice the number in the same period for 2022. Police minister Itamar Ben Gvir, the far-right lawmaker who campaigned on promises to beef up public safety, has largely stayed quiet on the soaring crimewave.

On Monday, the opposition parties summoned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to a special debate on the country’s homicide rate. Addressing the plenum, Netanyahu issued a public invitation to Arab MKs to meet with him on the deadly violence in their community. According to a Channel 12 report, Arab lawmakers are insistent that Ben Gvir, leader of the Otzma Yehudit party, not be at the meeting.