Man shot dead in Ashkelon in apparent underworld hit

A man said to have ties to a major national crime family was shot dead in Ashkelon on Saturday evening, as mob violence has continued to spike across the country.

According to police, the man was shot and seriously wounded on Herzl Street in Ashkelon, where he was pronounced dead on the scene by first responders.

Hebrew media reports identified the man as a member of the Domrani crime family, who had been the target of several failed assassination attempts in the past.

The Domrani gang has been engaged in a long-running dispute with the Shlomo crime family, whose head, Benny Shlomo, was gunned down in broad daylight at a gas station near Tel Aviv in October.

Saturday’s shooting came just hours after a man was killed and a second seriously wounded in a shooting in Nazareth that was reportedly linked to a bloody feud between local crime families.

Police described that incident as part of “an ongoing conflict between criminals.” Local reports indicated the shooting was linked to the fighting between the Hariri and Bakri organizations, which has claimed over two dozen lives over the past two years — including five killed last week in a mass shooting near Nazareth.

There has been a 61 percent increase in homicides in Israel in 2023 compared to 2022.