2 Umm al-Fahm men shot and killed in apparently separate incidents in northern Arab towns

Ibrahim Agbaria killed in his own bakery in Kafr Qara during sirens warning of Iranian missle fire, 4 years after brother was shot dead; Wissam Jabareen killed in Musheirifia

Two residents of Umm al-Fahm in their 30s were shot dead in separate incidents in northern Arab towns late Sunday and early Monday, medics said.

Police said they were investigating the killings and suspected both shootings were motivated by crime rather than nationalism. No arrests were reported.

The deaths of Ibrahim Agbaria and Wissam Jabareen, both residents of the northern town of Umm al-Fahm, brought the number of Arab homicide victims this year to 127, according to the Abraham Initiatives coexistence watchdog.

Agbaria was shot Sunday night in the bakery he owned in Kafr Qara, as sirens sounded in the area warning of the first Iranian missile attack in two months, Hebrew media reported. Arabic media reported that Agbaria’s brother Samer was also shot dead in Kafr Qara in 2022.

Jabareen was shot a few hours later in Musheirifia, near Umm al-Fahm, according to the Magen David Adom ambulance service.

The Abraham Initiatives said the 127 Arab homicide victims in 2026 represented a 19 percent increase over the same period in 2025, which was the bloodiest year on record, with 252 homicides.

Homicides in Arab society soared to 244 in 2023 — more than double the previous year — and have since stayed high.

The deaths followed a bloody weekend, with four Arab men in their 20s killed in separate shootings in northern Israel amid the unrelenting wave of deadly crime that continues to plague Israel’s Arab community.

The spike coincides with the term of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who took office at the end of 2022 and is responsible for law enforcement. Critics have accused the far-right minister and police of neglecting the Arab community.