Three killed in two separate Nazareth shootings, as crime wave rocks Arab community
Two men in their 30s killed by shots fired at car; three hours later a 27-year-old is also shot dead; police searching for suspects
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Three people were shot dead in the northern Arab city of Nazareth in two separate incidents less than three hours apart on Wednesday night, amid an upsurge in criminal violence rocking Israel’s Arab communities.
A 27-year-old Nazareth resident was shot dead in the northern Arab city, with officers rushing to the scene and searching for suspects, police said.
Earlier, two men in their 30s were killed in Nazareth, when shots were fired at a car, according to police and the Magen David Adom ambulance service.
Officers were also searching for suspects in that shooting, police said.
Medics who were alerted to the shooting found the two men with serious wounds, with no pulse and not breathing, and declared them dead on the spot, the ambulance service said.
Both shootings were of a “criminal” rather than nationalist nature, and “the circumstances are under investigation,” police said.
The victims of the shootings were not immediately named.
The incidents took place amid a prolonged violent crime epidemic in Israel’s Arab community that authorities have for years failed to quell.
According to the Abraham Initiatives coexistence watchdog’s latest figures updated on Sunday, 168 members of Israel’s Arab community have been killed this year, as 2026 continues to outpace last year as the bloodiest year on record in Israel.
Homicides in Arab society soared to 244 in 2023 — more than double the previous year — and have stayed high each year since, with many blaming far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir for inaction since he took office.
The Times of Israel Community.