Man shot dead in Druze village of Isfiya, bringing annual Arab homicide toll to 193

A man in his 20s was shot dead early Sunday in the Druze-majority northern village of Isfiya, with police saying the killing was believed to be related to crime rather than terrorism. The victim was identified as Amir Abu Hamda, a resident of the Druze village of Yarka.

Magen David Adom said its emergency hotline received a report at 6:25 a.m. of a man wounded in a violent incident in Isfiya. Medics who arrived at the scene found the victim, described by MDA as around 25 years old, with no vital signs, and pronounced him dead at the scene.

“When we arrived at the scene, we saw the man lying unconscious, without a pulse or breathing, with penetrating wounds to his body,” MDA paramedic Valeria Zuev said. “We carried out medical checks, but his injuries were severe and we were forced to pronounce him dead at the scene.”

Police said officers from the Carmel subdistrict arrived at the scene and opened an investigation into the shooting. Coastal District commander Deputy Commissioner Yehiel Bohadana later visited the scene and held a situation assessment with commanders, reviewing the circumstances of the killing and the investigative steps taken up to that point.

Following the assessment, Bohadana ordered that the investigation be transferred to the Coastal District’s central investigative unit.

Following Abu Hamda’s killing, the Abraham Initiatives watchdog said 193 Arabs had been killed in violence-related crime from the start of this year. Of those killed, 164 were shot dead, nine were stabbed, six died in fires and one was killed in a ramming incident. Thirteen of the victims were women or girls, and nine were shot dead by police.

חשד לרצח: עמיר אבו חמדה, בן 25 מירכא, נורה למוות בעספיא; המשטרה פתחה בחקירהhttps://t.co/FRbmaPBIIB@ali_mograbi
(צילום: נתי שוחט, פלאש 90) pic.twitter.com/JgCMf08N8C

— חדשות 13 (@newsisrael13) November 1, 2026

Abu Hamda’s death followed a string of deadly shootings in Arab communities in recent days. On Friday night, a man was shot dead in the southern Bedouin town of Tel Sheva in what police said was a criminal dispute between two families.

A day earlier, a man was killed and a woman moderately wounded when gunfire was directed at a car in the northern Arab town of Reineh; police also said that shooting appeared to be criminal rather than nationalist.

Earlier in the week, two men were shot dead in separate incidents in the Arab towns of Tayibe and Yafia. Police said both shootings were believed to be criminal in nature.

The violence follows the deadliest year on record for Israel’s Arab community. According to the Abraham Initiatives, 252 Arabs were killed in crime-related violence in 2025, surpassing the previous record set in 2023. The homicide rate in Arab society more than doubled in 2023 and remained at historically high levels in the following years.

At the same point last year, the toll stood at 209, meaning the number of victims is down 7.5% from last year, according to the organization.