Negev residents report ‘insane gunfire’ for several hours, are reminded of Oct. 7

Residents of northern Negev communities on Saturday morning reported hearing massive gunfire for some four hours, expressing fears that authorities had no control over the area while feeling reminded of the October 7, 2023, massacre.

The gunfire, apparently part of a dispute between families in the southern Bedouin city of Rahat, which has been plagued by an ongoing crime wave, was heard by residents of nearby Giv’ot Bar and Kibbutz Mishmar HaNegev.

According to the residents, who discussed the incident in the communities’ WhatsApp groups, gunfire was heard throughout the night, but apparently became more intense and was heard consistently from 6:30 a.m. — the time the Hamas-led October 7 massacre began — until around 10:30 a.m.

Residents of surrounding communities have been complaining for several years about gunfire from Bedouin towns, and accusing police of failure to maintain order in the area.

A report published earlier this year by State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman warned that effective governance has broken down in the Negev, especially in Bedouin towns, as police stations lack the necessary manpower to fight crime.

“Wow, it’s crazy, even for them, no?” one of the Giv’ot Bar residents wrote in their WhatsApp group on Saturday morning. Another resident noted the overnight gunfire, but said it got especially loud from 6:30 a.m.

“It really reminded me of October 7. The same feeling of awakening to insane gunfire on Shabbat,” the resident wrote.

Residents of Mishmar HaNegev also commented that there was “lots of gunfire.” A member of the kibbutz’s security team told residents that police had informed him that the gunfire was the result of a dispute between families in Rahat, according to the Maariv news outlet.

However, according to a police statement cited by Channel 12, a squad car sent out on a search could not find the exact source of the gunfire.

Billy Cohen, the community manager of Giv’ot Bar, decried the “impossible” reality in the community: “We do not have the authority to call out the civilian emergency squad, which leaves us exposed and helpless,” she wrote in the WhatsApp group.

Speaking to Channel 12 news, Cohen said residents were prepared to establish their own squad to find the source of the fire.

“The residents of Giv’ot Bar are done waiting. If the existing response does not change, we will establish an independent response force, which will go out into the field itself in real time, to inspect and locate the source of the shooting — inside and outside the community,” she said.

Without specifically noting the gunfire heard by residents, police said Saturday it found handguns and ammunition during a raid on a residential building in Rahat.

Police also found an M-16 rifle and arrested a suspect after investigating a suspicious vehicle. Separately, two other suspects were arrested in connection with a shooting linked to a dispute between families, police said.