Qalansawe mother shot in ambush outside home dies of wounds

A 33-year-old woman critically injured in a shooting outside her home in the central Arab town of Qalansawe over the weekend has died of her wounds, the hospital where she was being treated said on Tuesday.

“We share in the family’s sorrow,” a statement from Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba said.

Rima Khadija was shot on Saturday by an unidentified man as she stood beside her car and fled the scene. According to media reports, the mother of four had returned from buying groceries, when she was ambushed by the man who was waiting near her home. Her 8-year-old son was sitting at her side when she was shot.

Police launched an investigation into the shooting. So far, no arrests have been reported.

“My daughter is a wonderful woman, who lived to raise her four children. Why did they want to eliminate her? They shot her and nearly killed her,” her father Muhammed said to the Ynet news site on Saturday.

Muhammed also told the news site that Khadija had previously contacted the police saying that her life was in danger and that she needed protection. He did not elaborate on who threatened her and why.

Arab communities in Israel have seen a surge in violence in recent years, driven mainly, but not exclusively, by organized crime. Arab Israelis blame police, who they say have failed to crack down on powerful criminal organizations and largely ignore the violence, which includes family feuds, mafia turf wars and violence against women.

According to the Abraham Initiatives, 27 Arabs have been killed in homicides in Israel since the start of the year, after a record number of slain in 2021.

Earlier this year, Public Security Minister Omer Barlev said that “criminal families in the Arab sector” were “holding the community by the throat.”

Last year, the cabinet passed a plan to allocate NIS 2.5 billion ($750 million) over the next five years to fight the rampant crime in Arab communities.