Two Arab Israelis shot dead in separate suspected homicides
One man killed Sunday while driving in southern town of Rahat; another succumbs to wounds after being shot on Friday in Rosh Pina
Two men were killed in shootings, one while driving in Rahat on Sunday and another at a bar in Rosh Pina on Friday, according to Hebrew media reports amid a persistent crime wave in the Arab Israeli community.
Mohammed Sheikh al-Eid, in his 30s, was shot dead while driving on Sunday in the southern city of Rahat in what police suspect to be a criminal incident.
He was fatally wounded and his car then collided with a minibus.
Seven passengers on the bus were slightly wounded and taken to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba.
According to the Ynet news site, a burnt-out vehicle was found at the scene in Rahat, which police suspect was used by the shooters.
A preliminary investigation revealed that the incident is related to a feud between the victim’s family and the Abu Latif family that has already claimed the lives of eight people, Ynet added.
In a separate incident, Yazen Abu Salah, a resident of Ein al-Asad in his 20s, succumbed to his wounds on Saturday night after being shot on Friday in Rosh Pina.
The shooting on Friday was suspected to be part of a conflict between criminal gangs, according to Channel 12 news.
Abu Saleh was in a bar in Rosh Pina when he was shot. A bystander told Channel 12 that initially people feared it was a terror incident. The shooter fled the scene, according to the report.
Three suspects have since been arrested in connection to the incident, all from the town of Tuba-Zangariyye, Channel 12 added.
Police told Channel 12 that the incident could have “ended in a major disaster.”
Both Mohammed Sheikh al-Eid and Yazen Abu Salah are members of Israel’s Arab community, which has seen 156 murders in 2024, according to the Abraham Initiatives, a ,group that tracks these statistics.
A wave of violent crime has swept the Arab Israeli community, much of it tied to warring organized crime groups. Many Arab Israeli community leaders put the blame on the 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.
For their part, authorities have blamed burgeoning organized crime and the proliferation of weaponry, while some have pointed to a failure by communities to cooperate with law enforcement to root out criminals.
