Three separate killings within hours as deadly crime wave continues
Man shot dead in northern town of Nazareth, wife and child injured; man fatally stabbed in Holon park; third man gunned down near Qalansawe, 2 others injured
Three men were killed within hours in separate incidents, Israel Police said Wednesday, as the deadly crime wave showed no signs of abating.
A man was shot dead in Nazareth, and another man was fatally stabbed in Holon.
Hours later, another man was shot dead close to the city of Qalansawe in the center of the country.
They were the latest killings in a spate of deadly crime that has seen over twice as many people killed in the first four months of 2023 as in the same period last year.
There was no public comment on the killings from National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
The victim in Nazareth — identified in Hebrew media as Sahar Natafi, a resident of the city in his twenties — was driving with his wife and daughter when shots were fired at the vehicle.
His wife and daughter were moderately and lightly injured in the attack.
Police said the shooting was part of a criminal feud.
Later Wednesday a man in his thirties was shot dead close to Qalansawe.
He was identified in Hebrew-language media as Mohammad Natur, a resident of the city. Another man, 23, was seriously injured and a third was lightly injured.
Magen David Adom emergency service medics who attended the scene said they found one injured man in the car with no vital signs. The other two were given initial treatment and then taken to the Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba.
There were conflicting reports on how the other two men were injured, with some reports saying they were both in the car that was attacked. But Ynet reported that the lightly injured man was a passerby who was shot as he tried to help the fatally injured victim.
The crime wave has been particularly deadly for the country’s Arab community. Many blame 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.
According to The Abraham Initiatives, a group that campaigns against violence, there have been 67 members of the Arab community killed in violent circumstances since the beginning of the year. The watchdog said 57 of them were killed by gunfire.
During the same period last year there were 27 comparable deaths in total.
Separately, in the coastal city of Holon, a man in his fifties was stabbed in a public park on Kedoshei Kahir Street in Holon, the second homicide on the same street within a week.
He was taken to the city’s Wolfson Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.
Last Friday, a 22-year-old man was stabbed to death on the same street in what police said was a clash between street gangs.
Also in Holon, police said Tuesday evening that a suspicious package was left by the door of an apartment on Eliyahu Krauze Street in Holon.
Police sappers arrived and confirmed that package was an explosive that they then neutralized.
There has been a sharp jump in homicides under Ben Gvir, who came into office in December and ran on a platform of improving citizens’ personal security.
Through the month of April, there have been 78 homicides this year, compared to 34 in 2022, according to a tally by the Haaretz newspaper.
The sharp jump in killings, the highest number in decades, was seen in both the Jewish and Arab communities, although the numbers are far steeper in the latter.
Most of those killed were figures known to police due to their ties to the criminal world, apparently indicating an increase in organized crime in the Arab community, the report assessed.
