Man shot dead after car chase through downtown Lod

A man was shot and killed Saturday afternoon in downtown Lod, in an incident that police said was linked to a blood feud between two families in the mixed Arab-Jewish city.

Footage emerged from the fatal shooting that showed a man cocking his rifle in broad daylight on a traffic island, before opening fire on three people in a car.

The shooting left one man dead and two injured. The slain victim, 25-year-old Omar Taysir al-Shamali, was suspected of having shot and injured someone earlier this week as part of the same conflict, the Ynet news  reported.

The shooting was preceded by a high-speed pursuit through the city’s downtown, in which the gunman, dressed entirely in black, could seen leaning outside his car’s window and shooting at another vehicle.

The fleeing car then crashed two blocks away from the police station, whereupon the armed man approached the vehicle on foot and opened fire on the three men inside.

Shamali was killed on the spot, while the other two passengers, both of them his family members, were taken to the hospital to be treated for serious and mild injuries, respectively, according to the Magen David Adom emergency service.

רצח לאור יום בלוד: אדם נורה למוות ועוד שניים נפצעו – אחד מהם במצב קשה. זהו הנרצח ה-27 בחברה הערבית מאז תחילת 2026 | תיעוד@hadasgrinberg
צילום: לפי סעיף 27 א' לחוק זכויות יוצרים pic.twitter.com/YBTNjN4F0Z

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) January 31, 2026

Officers were investigation the shooting and launched a manhunt, police said. No suspects were immediately arrested.

Shamali was the 27th Arab citizen to be killed violently in crime-related circumstances since the start of the year.

He was shot dead as tens of thousands of demonstrators convened in Tel Aviv for a protest against the crime wave besetting Israel’s Arab minority, in which demonstrators accused the government and law enforcement of neglecting the community and allowing violence to run rampant.

Last year was the deadliest year on record for Arab citizens, after 252 lost their lives in crime-related killings, and this year is on course to surpass it.

Critics have blamed National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who oversees police, for the worsening situation. Since he took office in 2023, the homicide rate in Arab society doubled and has continued to rise since.

According to data from the Abraham Initiatives, which tracks Arab homicide victims, only 32 indictments were filed last year against suspects in Arab society killings. The group said the data is evidence of chronic under-policing when it comes to the community and “points to fundamental discrimination in enforcement.”