Police investigate suspected double murder in northern Israel

Two men were found shot dead in northern Israel on Friday in a suspected double murder.

The men were killed in the Druze-majority town of Daliyat al-Karmel, near Haifa. They were both residents of the neighboring Druze town of Isfiya.

They were named as Ofer Abu Sauda and Carlos Abu Tamimi.

They were found in a vehicle near the town’s Policeman’s Square and declared dead at the scene.

The Magen David Adom emergency service received a call about the shooting at 11:32 p.m. on Friday. It said one of the men was about 28, the other around 40.

“When we got to the scene, there was a big commotion,” said MDA paramedics Hanan Zohar and Meirav Kaufman. “We carried out checks of vital signs, but there were no signs of life and we were quickly forced to declare them dead at the scene.”

חשד לרצח כפול בדליית אל כרמל: שני גברים נורו למוות pic.twitter.com/UTeebgZa9I

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Police arrived on the scene and searched the area for suspects and evidence. Law enforcement believed the killings were related to criminal activity and launched an investigation, but had not made any arrests.

A few hours before the killing, two men were seriously injured in a brawl in the town of Tur’an in the Lower Galilee.

Also Thursday, in the town of Jadeidi-Makr, near Acre, a 22-year-old was stabbed, resulting in severe injuries. A 65-year-old man from the town was arrested on suspicion of stabbing him.

Twenty-one Arab Israelis have been murdered since the start of 2020, including four women, and dozens injured in shooting and stabbing incidents.

Late last year, large numbers of Arab Israelis participated in protests against violence in their communities, calling on authorities to take greater action to curb the phenomenon.