Three men shot dead in Ramle amid bloody underworld feud

Three men were shot dead in the central city of Ramle on Friday in a suspected triple murder, according to police.

The men, all in their 30s, were identified as the owner of a hookah shop and his two employees — Bilal Abu Ghanem, Saleh Afifi and Baha Amira. The owner of the store was a member of the Abu Ghanem family, which is in underworld feud with the Abu Zaid family, though the Kan public broadcaster said he was not directly involved in the dispute.

Police opened an investigation into the shooting and later announced the arrest of a 20-year-old from the neighboring city of Lod who is suspected of involvement in the slayings.

Security camera footage at the entrance to the store where the three victims were slain shows a pair of masked men in motorcycle helmets walk up to the shop, with one then stepping inside before they both open fire.

According to Hebrew media reports, Friday’s incident was related to a shooting less than 24 hours earlier in Ramle where brothers Matin and Jamal al-Shmali were killed near an elementary school in the Jawarish neighborhood.

Those two victims reportedly had two other brothers who were killed in previous shootings in 2019 and 2020. After opening an investigation into Thursday’s double homicide, police arrested three Ramle residents suspected of involvement in the crime.

עם נשקים שלופים וקסדות על הראש: תיעוד מהרצח המשולש ברמלה@hadasgrinberg pic.twitter.com/uZpnzR52M0

— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) April 11, 2025

The vast majority of Arab sector murder cases are left unsolved by law enforcement, with many community leaders criticizing police for not doing enough to deter violent crime in Arab locales.

Since the start of the year, 72 Arab Israelis have been killed in violent criminal incidents, indicating that the sharp spike in the Arab homicide rate seen under National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has far from subsided.