Two Arab men killed in separate incidents as police fail to rein in soaring crime
Killings of Ibrahim Abu Zayid in Rahat and Taj Nofi in Yafia bring homicide toll among Arab Israelis this year to 77
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Two men were shot dead in separate incidents in the Arab towns of Yafia and Rahat Saturday night and Sunday, bringing the number of people killed from the community this year to 77, according to a watchdog.
Police said they launched investigations into both crimes and were searching for suspects, but no arrests were reported.
Paramedics who arrived at the scene in the southern Bedouin city of Rahat on Sunday morning found a seriously wounded man, identified as a Lod resident in his 50s, and rushed him to the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, where hospital staff declared him dead, first responders said.
The Abraham Initiatives coexistence watchdog identified him as Ibrahim Abu Zayid al-Turi, 54.
Less than 12 hours earlier, police and medics said they were alerted to the shooting of a 30-year-old man in Yafia, near Nazareth in northern Israel. He was declared dead at the scene, first responders said.
He was later identified as Haifa resident Taj Nofi, 30.
ضحية جريمة القتل في يافة الناصرة هو الشاب تاج نوفي (30 عامًا)، من سكان مدينة حيفا، وكان يقيم في الناصرة.
للتفاصيل: https://t.co/rEAdr4IKV2 pic.twitter.com/MZsqnTdu9a
— موقع عرب 48 (@arab48website) March 29, 2026
According to the Abraham Initiatives, the 77 Arabs killed in Israel this year, including three shot dead by police, represent a 28 percent rise over the 60 Arabs killed over the same period in 2025 — the bloodiest year on record for Arab society in Israel, with 252 killed.
This year’s toll consisted of 75 with Israeli citizenship and two with residency permits, the Abraham Initiatives said.
Many in Israel accuse National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir of letting crime fester in Arab society and claim the far-right politician’s oversight of police has led to worsening neglect of Arab towns by law enforcement.
The minister took office toward the end of 2022. In 2023, his first full year in office, homicides in Arab society soared to over 240 — more than double the toll in 2022, which at the time had been the bloodiest year on record.
Under Ben Gvir’s guidance, critics charge, police have done little to deal with the stranglehold organized crime has put on Arab towns, instead prioritizing fighting terrorism or lawlessness that spills into Jewish areas. Community members say gangland activity has driven an influx of gun violence, worsening existing blood feuds between families.
The violence has cast a pall across the community, with innocent passersby regularly caught in the middle of deadly shootings. In many Arab towns, shop owners now close by sundown and parents say they are afraid to let their children leave the house.
The Times of Israel Community.