Two men shot dead in apparent underworld hit in central Israel

Police believe killings are part of an ongoing feud between crime families in the cities of Ramle and Lod; incident takes place hours before a man was shot dead in Rahat

Two men were shot dead while driving near the central city of Ramle, in an apparent underworld hit, medics and police said Saturday, as a violent crime wave continues to grip Israel’s Arab community.

Paramedics who arrived on the scene shortly after midnight Friday declared the two men, around 25 years old, dead at the scene, the Magen David Adom ambulance service said.

The shooting was believed to be linked to an “ongoing blood feud” between crime families from the Ramla and Lod area, and officers are searching for suspects, police said.

Police suspect the assailants followed the vehicle and fired at close range as it approached the interchange. The car then veered onto the shoulder and crashed into the guardrail.

According to the Ynet news site, the identity of the victims is known to the police.

The report also said that a burned vehicle, believed to have been used by the assailants, was found in the nearby city of Lod after the killings.

“The hitmen lay in wait for the victims from the moment they left their homes in order to carry out the killing at an isolated spot on the road, a source familiar with the case told Channel 12 news.

Police were concerned about a possible retaliatory attack in response to the killings.

The killings came just hours after a resident of the southern Bedouin city of Rahat, Ismail Abu Aabed, 27, was shot dead.

The three incidents brought the number of homicide victims in Israel’s Arab community to 98 since the start of the year, according to the Abraham Initiatives, a watchdog that tracks crime-related killings in Arab society. To date, the number of Arab homicide victims is at least 18 percent higher than last year’s figure at the same point in time.

Many in Israel accuse National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir of allowing crime to fester in Arab communities, arguing that police under the far-right politician’s oversight have neglected enforcement in Arab towns.

The minister took office toward the end of 2022. In 2023, his first full year in office, homicides in Arab society soared to over 240 — more than double the toll in 2022, which at the time had been the bloodiest year on record.

Under Ben Gvir’s guidance, critics charge, police have done little to curb organized crime in Arab towns, instead prioritizing fighting terrorism or lawlessness affecting Jewish areas.

Community members say gangland activity has driven an influx of gun violence, worsening existing blood feuds between families.

The violence has cast a pall across the community, with innocent passersby regularly caught in the middle of deadly shootings. In many Arab towns, shop owners now close by sundown, and parents say they are afraid to let their children leave home.