The search is ongoing for the perpetrators of a shooting on Thursday, which police have described as a “criminal” incident.
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Posted on 09/06/2023 12:00 PM Updated on 09/06/2023 12:29 PM
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Israeli security forces on June 8, 2023 in Yafia, Israel. (AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)
Five Israeli Arabs were shot dead at a car wash in northern Israel on Thursday (June 8), police said in a statement, adding that a search is underway to apprehend the perpetrators. The “criminal” incident took place in Yafia, an Arab town west of Nazareth.
Police spokesman Eli Levy told public broadcaster Kan that “one or more people” at the scene opened fire on a group of men. He did not provide any further details due to the ongoing investigation.
A “massacre,” according to the head of the municipal council
This tragedy is the latest episode in the crime wave that has hit Israeli Arabs: the shooting brings the number of members of this minority killed since the beginning of the year to 96. A police official said the incident was most likely part of a gang war.
Yafia Municipal Council Chairman Maher Khaliliya, for his part, described the shooting as a “massacre” and blamed the police for negligence. The city is “in solidarity with the victims’ families,” he told AFP, stressing he had no information on the reasons for the shooting.
According to experts, Arab gangs have accumulated large amounts of arms over the past two decades and are involved in activities such as drug, arms and human trafficking, prostitution, extortion and money laundering.
Israeli Arabs, descendants of Palestinians who remained on their lands when Israel was founded in 1948, make up about 20% of the country’s population. They say they face discrimination compared to the Jewish majority and believe the police and authorities are lax in protecting them and investigating the violence.
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