Two men were shot dead in two separate incidents on Saturday, as violent crime continues to roil Arab Israeli society.
Following a shooting in Nazareth on Saturday afternoon, paramedics found a young man in his car with severe bullet wounds and pronounced him dead at the scene.
He was named by the Abraham Initiatives organization, which tracks Arab-community homicides, as Abed Masharka, 18.
Hours later, near Route 40 in the Negev region, another man aged around 20 was shot and killed.
Paramedics arrived at the scene to find him in critical condition. They attempted to resuscitate him, but he succumbed to his wounds and was pronounced dead shortly thereafter.
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Another man, also around 20, was moderately wounded in the highway shooting. Paramedics brought him to Soroka Hospital in Beersheba.
The men targeted in the shooting appeared to have been driving an ATV when assailants opened fire on the pair, as seen in footage circulating on social media.
Blood was seen spattered on the ground near the vehicle, which was found by first responders in a ditch off the side of the highway.
Police launched investigations into both shootings and said they had begun to search for suspects and to gather evidence.
No arrests were reported Saturday in either case.
Thousands of people attend a protest against violent crime affecting the Arab community, in Tel Aviv on January 31, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Saturday’s killings brought to 47 this year’s number of Arab Israeli victims of violent crime, in just 45 days, according to figures by the Abraham Initiatives.
Last year was the worst on record for violent crime in Arab society, with 252 homicide deaths. But 2026 stands to be even deadlier if killings continue at their current pace.
Local politicians and religious figures have denounced the crime sweeping their communities, but most place blame on law enforcement, accusing police of neglecting to solve homicides when the victims are Arab.
Violent killings have run rampant in Arab cities and towns over the past decade, but the issue worsened considerably in 2023 when the number of homicides jumped to 244, doubling the previous year’s figure of 116. The tally dipped slightly in 2024 before reaching new heights last year. The pre-2023 record high, set in 2021, had been 126 killings.
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