Man injured near Haifa in car explosion tied to criminal underworld
Victim suffers light to moderate injuries on Route 22, in third such blast linked to feuding gangs within a week
A vehicle exploded on a highway north of Haifa on Sunday, injuring a man in an incident the Israel Police suspect was related to organized crime.
It was the latest in a series of violent attacks tied to the criminal underworld over the past few days that have seen cars blown up as well as shootings, as criminal gangs fight out a war on the country’s streets.
The Magen David Adom rescue service said it took a man to Rambam Hospital in Haifa with light to moderate injuries. Hebrew media reports said he was about 35.
The explosion occurred on Route 22 near Bialik interchange. Drivers were asked to avoid the area.
On Friday a car exploded in the Old City of Acre, seriously injuring a man in his 30s. Police said the incident was likely related to a criminal dispute. The Walla news site reported that the man’s 4-year-old son was lightly injured in the blast in the northern city, as were a 41-year-old man and 21-year-old woman, while a 15-year-old girl sustained light to moderate injuries.
The explosion in Acre came hours after a man in his 40s was shot dead in the central city of Tira, and a day after a car blast and subsequent fire in the central city of Ramle killed four people and injured nine others, including a two-month-old baby.
All of the attacks were apparently also related to criminal disputes, according to police.
A 17-year-old was arrested Friday on suspicion of involvement in the Ramle blast. The arrest came as some 500 police officers carried out raids in the cities of Ramle and Lod as well as in the unrecognized Arab village of Dahmash in connection to the deadly car blast.
A preliminary investigation into that explosion, which sparked a fire that spread to two nearby stores, indicated that it was caused by a grenade stolen from the Israel Defense Forces and possessed by someone already known to police, Channel 12 reported.
The Ramle attack was thought by police to have been tied to an ongoing dispute between the Jarushi and Abu Zaid crime families, with the car and nearby stores believed to be connected to the Jarushis, according to reports in Hebrew media.
The four victims killed in the explosion were identified by Hebrew media as Daa Abu Halawa, 50, and her two children Sila, 14, and Muhammad, 10, as well as Leen Mugrabi, age 24, all members of the Arab Israeli community.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who is responsible for the police, has faced criticism that he is not doing enough to curb burgeoning gang violence. Ben Gvir entered office as security minister in late 2022 vowing to crack down on crime in the Arab community, but homicides have continued to spiral, with 169 members of the Arab community killed in violent crimes since the start of this year, according to the Abraham Initiatives nonprofit.
Ben Gvir, for his part, has laid the blame on Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara. Speaking at the scene of the attack in Ramle on Thursday, the minister said Baharav-Miara had refused his request to use administrative detention against criminal suspects. Ramle residents accused Ben Gvir of evading responsibility.
Administrative detention — which is used to hold Palestinian and Jewish terror suspects without trial for extended periods of time — is highly controversial, and the notion of using it to fight crime has been met with pushback from security officials.
Many Arab Israeli community leaders have accused police of failing to crack down on powerful criminal organizations and largely ignoring the violence, which includes family feuds, mafia turf wars and violence against women.
