Three Arab men shot dead within 24 hours in northern Israel

Three Arab men were killed in separate shootings in northern Israel within 24 hours on Thursday and Friday, including a prisoner who was on his way to a rehabilitative work program, according to first responders and the Israel Prison Service.

Separately, police said Thursday afternoon that they were working to determine the cause of death of a woman in her 20s whose body was found with signs of injury in her home in a Bedouin hamlet in the south.

Her roughly 30-year-old brother was killed Thursday when the car he was driving collided with a bus at the southern Hatrurim Junction, according to the Magen David Adom ambulance service and media reports. It was unclear if the siblings’ deaths were related.

The shootings Thursday evening and Friday morning brought the number of confirmed Arab homicide victims since the start of this year to 197, down from 215 at the same time last year, according to the Abraham Initiatives coexistence watchdog.

On Thursday evening, two men were killed and several wounded in the northern Arab towns of Tamra and Baqa al-Gharbiya, medics said.

The victim of the first shooting, in Tamra, was identified as 22-year-old Yousef Hamad. Another man was moderately wounded in the shooting, according to Magen David Adom.

مقتل يوسف حماد وإصابة اثنين بجروح خطيرة في جريمة إطلاق نار بمدينة طمرة
❗️❕️أُعلن مساء اليوم الخميس عن مقتل الشاب يوسف محمود حماد وإصابة اثنين آخرين بجروح خطيرة، إثر جريمة إطلاق نار وقعت في مدينة طمرة، وسط استنفار للطواقم الطبية التي عملت على تقديم الإسعافات الأولية للمصابين pic.twitter.com/PzqSnwI68N

— |فرات نصار|פוראת נסאר|FURAT NASSAR (@nassar_furat) November 5, 2026

The victim of the later shooting, in Baqa al-Gharbiya, was identified as Qalanswe resident Ahmad Jamal, 25.

Three men aged 22, 25 and about 30 sustained serious wounds and a fourth man aged 27 sustained moderate wounds in that shooting, Magen David Adom said.

Separately on Thursday evening, a 45-year-old man was seriously wounded in a shooting in Nazareth and a 25-year-old man was seriously wounded in a stabbing in Hadera, according to police and medics.

Police said they were investigating the incidents, which they described as either “criminal” or “apparently criminal” in nature, rather than nationalist or terror-motivated.

#صورة| الشاب أحمد جمل من مدينة قلنسوة، ضحية جريمة القتل في باقة الغربية الليلة الماضية. pic.twitter.com/ZQBedMgt2U

— الجرمق الإخباري (@aljarmaqnet) November 6, 2026

The man who was shot dead Friday morning was identified as 37-year-old Hermon Prison inmate Eyal al-Heib, a resident of the northern Bedouin town of Tuba-Zangariyye who was convicted of manslaughter in 2015 and was serving an 18-year jail sentence.

He was pronounced dead on the scene at a bus stop near the Nahal Tsalmon Interchange on Route 65, west of the Sea of Galilee, after a civilian and then medics tried and failed to resuscitate him, according to Magen David Adom.

The prison service said the inmate was on his way to his day job at a “rehabilitative factory.”

Police said they were investigating the shooting and looking for suspects.

The Abraham Initiatives has recorded an approximate doubling in annual homicide rates in Arab society since National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir took office in late 2022.

According to the coexistence watchdog, last year was the bloodiest on record, with 252 victims, accounting for over 80% of homicides in Israel, where Arab citizens account for roughly 20% of the population.

The watchdog has accused Ben Gvir of neglecting the skyrocketing homicides in Arab society and gutting programs meant to confront the crime wave. Ben Gvir and his party have defended what they describe as increased police action.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.