Man shot dead in northern Arab city near Haifa

A man aged around 60 was shot dead in Shfaram, a northern Arab city near Haifa, early Wednesday morning, in the latest homicide in Israel’s Arab community.

The man was found shot in his vehicle. Paramedics who arrived on the scene declared him dead.

Police said they are investigating the case as a suspected homicide.

According to the Kan public broadcaster, the man was shot at point-blank range in his car near a gas station in the city. The victim’s identity is known to police, reports said, adding that they are probing whether the incident is tied to a longstanding feud between two families in the area, which has already claimed dozens of victims in recent years.

According to figures from the Abraham Initiatives coexistence watchdog, Wednesday’s victim was the 161st member of Israel’s Arab community to be killed this year, as 2026 continues to outpace the previous year as the bloodiest year on record in Israel.

The latest apparent homicide comes just days after Israel Police chief Daniel Levy praised police for a “drastic drop” in murders in Arab communities, despite figures showing a year-over-year increase.

“We see a drop in shootings in Arab society — there’s been a drastic drop in the monthly murder rate. We’re in the best period in the past five years,” the Walla news site quoted Levy as saying at an officers conference Monday.

While figures released last week, after the killings of 57-year-old Ziyad Bashara in Taybe and 20-year-old Ayman Jaramneh in Muqeible, indicated 2026 had the highest-ever number of Arab homicide victims up to that point, they showed a slight drop in the rate of increase over 2025 — the bloodiest calendar year on record, with 252 Arab homicide victims.

Levy was apparently referring to the fact that, as of his statement, only six people had been killed in the Arab community during the preceding month, fewer than the number that the Abraham Initiatives recorded in every calendar month since August 2022, non-inclusive. That year had seen 116 homicides in Arab communities, 10 fewer than in 2021, which at the time was the bloodiest on record, according to the Abraham Initiatives.

But even with that slight drop in monthly rate, 2026 is still on pace to pass 2025 as the deadliest year on record.

The number of homicides more than doubled in 2023 and has since remained at similar levels. The massive rise, which coincided with the start of far-right Itamar Ben Gvir’s term as national security minister, has alarmed Arab community leaders, many of whom attribute the sharp rise to ineffectiveness — if not outright negligence — of law enforcement.