Two cousins in their 20s shot dead in Arab town of Deir Hanna in the Lower Galilee

Two young men were shot dead Friday in the Arab town of Deir Hanna in the Lower Galilee region, bringing the number of homicides in the Arab community since the beginning of the year to over 50. The assailants are still at large.

Police said the attackers shot at the two men’s car Friday night, killing one and seriously wounding the other, who was taken to the Galilee’s Poria Medical Center.

Hebrew and Arabic media reported that the seriously wounded victim was pronounced dead at the hospital.

The reports identified the victims as cousins Adam and Hassan Khalalyleh, both in their 20s.

A third man, aged 59, was being treated for moderate wounds sustained as a result of the shooting, the hospital said.

Deir Hanna announced a general strike Saturday to protest police’s failure to stem the ongoing violence, Arabic-language news site Arab48 reported.

In a statement quoted by the news site, the town said the shooting was “the latest in a series of violent incidents that threaten the security of our community.”

The news site also reported that a man in his 50s was moderately to seriously injured Friday after being shot in the Arab town of Tamra in the Galilee, and that a 63-year-old was moderately injured after being stabbed in the central Arab city of Tira.

⭕️בעקבות ההודעה על מותם של שני בני הדודים חסן אחמד חלאילה ואדם מוחמד חלאילה, שנורו בדיר חנא, ארגון יוזמות אברהם מעדכן:
⭕️54 ערבים קיפחו את חייהם מתחילת שנת 2025 בנסיבות הקשורות לפשיעה ואלימות, מתוכם 2 נשים, 53 אזרחים ותושב אחד.
>47 נורו למוות
>26 בגילאי 30 ומטה
>בין הקורבנות 2… pic.twitter.com/SpKwwqwktR

— Yasser Okbi (@OkbiYasser) March 14, 2025

The violence came a day after 28-year-old Mahmoud Jabareen was shot to death outside his home in Umm al-Fahm in the north, shortly before the end of the Ramadan fast on Thursday.

Last Saturday, two Arab men in their 30s were killed in separate shootings in the northern city of Kafr Qara and in the central town of Zemer.

The Abraham Initiatives, a co-existence watchdog, said after the Friday murders that 54 members of the Arab community had been killed in violent circumstances since the start of 2025. According to the Ynet news site, police solved just three cases.

The Abraham Initiatives has documented a surge in murder rates in the community since 2023, the first year in office of former National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who resigned earlier this year over the Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal.

In January, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet approved the temporary appointment of Tourism Minister Haim Katz to the three ministerial positions left vacant when Ben Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit party quit the government, including the National Security Ministry, which deals with policing.

In 2024, the Abraham Initiatives recorded 230 homicides in the Arab community, and in 2023, the watchdog counted 244 — more than double the previous year. The group attributed the rise to Ben Gvir’s scrapping of his predecessor’s plan, drafted in coordination with local Arab leaders, to fight organized crime in the community.

Police confirmed only in January that the homicide rate in the Arab community more than doubled in 2023, and is yet to release data for 2024.