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unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev

A home damaged by a missile fragment in Tel Arad, March 24, 2026 (Jihad Amor)
March 24, 2026, 7:03 pm
3 injured as fragments of Iranian missile fall in unrecognized Bedouin village
Soroka Hospital doctor said seriously wounded, his wife and 2-month-old baby lightly hurt; most community members lack bomb shelters
By Emanuel Fabian and Ariela Karmel
A Bedouin boy shelters from an Iranian missile under a concrete tunnel in the village of Wadi Na'am, March 2026. (Negev Coexistence Forum)
March 12, 2026, 8:26 am
With missiles flying again, most Negev Bedouin still exposed without any shelter
Barred from building safe rooms and lacking public shelters, many are forced to rely on inadequate protection, a problem endemic to Arab communities that the state has failed to deal with for years
By Ariela Karmel
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir (R) argues with Tel Sheva resident Jawad Abu Assa, on November 26, 2025. (Screen capture via X, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
November 26, 2025, 5:49 pm
‘Go home’: Ben Gvir feuds with residents of southern Bedouin town after deadly shooting
Jawad Abu Assa, whose brother was murdered on Oct. 7, accuses far-right minister of trying to drive a wedge between Jews and Arabs during heated exchange in Tel Sheva
By Charlie Summers and ToI Staff
Israeli security forces demolish homes in an unrecognized Bedouin village in the Negev, September 17, 2025. (Flash90)
October 16, 2025, 8:05 am
Once hailed for Oct. 7 heroism, Bedouin bemoan a state they say has since turned its back
An exponential rise in demolitions for unrecognized Negev communities, coupled with poverty and record-high crime, leave those once feted for risking their lives feeling neglected and forgotten
By Eliyahu Freedman
Sgt. Maj. Muhammad el-Atrash (IDF)
September 28, 2025, 9:30 pm
Sgt. Maj. Muhammad el-Atrash, 39: Horse lover and father of 13
Killed battling Hamas on October 7 near Nahal Oz, his body taken captive to Gaza and returned in October 2025
By ToI Staff
Sami al-Jerjawi (Courtesy)
July 20, 2025, 6:57 pm
Sami al-Jerjawi, 51: Van driver and father of 30 ‘respected everyone’
Murdered by Hamas terrorists at the Sha’ar Hanegev Junction on October 7
By ToI Staff
Ahmad Abu Ganima poses for a portrait in the window of the minibus buried in the earth, a makeshift bomb shelter his family uses in Khashem Zaneh, an unrecognized Bedouin village in the Negev Desert, southern Israel, July 2, 2025. (Maya Alleruzzo/AP)
July 17, 2025, 10:55 am
Burrowing into ground, Israel’s Bedouin build makeshift bomb shelters to skirt red tape
Residents of unrecognized Negev villages are unable to get permits to construct secure rooms, so instead they improvise what they can, for peace of mind if not actual protection
By AP and ToI Staff
Najib Abu Gharbiyeh in front of the Wadi al-Na'am's makeshift community center, June 2025. (Ariela Karmel)
July 13, 2025, 8:16 pm
‘We’d die of hunger before we say we’re hungry’: Food insecurity is rife among Bedouin
Report reveals how food insecurity in unrecognized Bedouin villages began during COVID, was exacerbated post-Oct. 7 and has become a chronic issue, after decades of state neglect
By Ariela Karmel
ILLUSTRATIVE: A man holds up his cellular phone certificating that it is 'kosher' at the entrance to an ultra-Orthodox school in Jerusalem on May 6, 2020. (Nati Shohat/ Flash90)
July 2, 2025, 8:45 pm
Minister says IDF neglects Haredim, Bedouins by relying on modern tech for missile alerts
Likud’s Shlomo Karhi tells State Comptroller that ultra-Orthodox and Negev communities are less likely to receive alerts, says IDF ‘irresponsible’ for not expanding alert system
By Sam Sokol and ToI Staff
Children taking shelter in Tel Arad, an unrecognized Bedouin village, during a missile strike, June 2025. (Sulayman Abu Godha)
June 28, 2025, 7:10 am
Bridges, tents, and cement pipes: How Bedouin villages sheltered under Iranian strikes
Israel’s conflict with Iran and the resulting missile barrages highlight a longstanding catch-22 for a community that can neither receive government bomb shelters nor build its own
By Ariela Karmel
Cousins (from left) Amin, Jawad, Malek and Mahmoud al-Qoraan, all killed in a rocket strike on October 7, 2023. (Courtesy)
December 25, 2024, 11:18 pm
Cousins Amin, Jawad, Malek and Mahmoud al-Qoraan, 10, 11, 16 & 16
Slain in a rocket attack on the Bedouin village of Kukhleh in the south on October 7
By ToI Staff
A view of the unrecognized village of Umm al-Hiran, early November 14, 2024. (The Regional Council of the Unrecognized Villages in the Negev)
November 15, 2024, 8:53 am
Unrecognized Bedouin village in Negev razed to make way for new Jewish community
Group representing impoverished towns slams ‘population replacement’ plan set to affect 9,000 residents from 14 localities; demolition said to go ahead over Shin Bet objection
By Noam Lehmann
Israeli security forces at the scene of a terror attack in the Beersheba central bus station, October 6, 2024, in which Sgt. Shira Suslik (inset) was killed. (Dudu Greenspan/Flash90; Israel Police)
October 6, 2024, 5:30 pm
Border cop killed, 10 wounded in terror shooting attack at Beersheba central bus station
Female officer, 19, shot dead by terrorist who opened fire at people at a McDonald’s; gunman was Israeli citizen and relative of perpetrator of 2015 attack inside same bus station
By Emanuel Fabian and ToI Staff
Jordanian cartoonist Emad Hajjaj, who regularly publishes in the Qatari-owned Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, draws an Iranian tank carries a gigantic missile launcher, which only ends up ejecting a small drone carrying a miniature rocket, August 10, 2024. (screenshot, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
August 15, 2024, 2:03 pm
Daily Briefing Aug. 15: Day 314 – Doha talks underway, while Arab cartoonists mock Iran
Military reporter Emanuel Fabian reports on all fronts of IDF operations and a finalized US arms sale to Israel; reporter Gianluca Pacchiani on lack of shelters for Negev Bedouin
By ToI Staff
Bedouin volunteers paint a concrete rocket shelter installed the day before in the unrecognized Bedouin village of Umm al-Khiran, southern Israel, on December 7, 2023 (Gianluca Pacchiani / Times of Israel)
August 14, 2024, 4:55 pm
As Iranian retaliation looms, thousands of Bedouins still vulnerable to rockets 
Four months after girl, 7, is sole victim of Iran attack, unrecognized Negev communities’ residents fear for their lives amid persisting lack of rocket shelters and Iron Dome cover
By Gianluca Pacchiani
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