Two individuals fell victim to separate fatal shootings on Saturday night, marking the 179th and 180th casualties in an unprecedented surge of crime afflicting the Arab community in Israel.
In Haifa, paramedics responded to a shooting incident outside a restaurant and found a man with critical gunshot injuries. Despite immediate medical attention at Rambam Medical Center, the man, identified as Edmund Dibi in his 50s, was tragically pronounced dead. Preliminary investigations suggest the incident stemmed from a feud between families, prompting a police inquiry.
In another incident in the southern Bedouin city of Rahat, a man sustained critical injuries in a shooting, identified in media reports as Bashar Abu Zajilah, aged 18. Investigators have determined this incident to be of a criminal nature.
The Abraham Initiatives, an anti-violence advocacy group, reported that these tragic deaths marked the 179th and 180th instances of Arabs losing their lives in violent circumstances in Israel since the beginning of the year, a stark increase compared to 80 during the same period in 2022. Among those who lost their lives this year, 163 were victims of fatal shootings, according to the group’s data.