A wave of Israeli-Arab homicide continued with a double homicide in Nahariya on Sunday morning in what appeared to be a gang-related shooting. The murders brought the death toll in 2025 Israeli-Arab violence to five.
Locals said the victims, two men in their thirties, were residents of Akko and members of a crime family that has been feuding with another local family.
Magen David Adom paramedic said, “We joined police forces who led us to the apartment. The men were lying unconscious, without a pulse and not breathing. Despite our efforts, we had to declare them dead on the spot.”
According to the Abraham Initiative, a non-profit organization that promotes Arab integration into Israeli society, 230 Israeli-Arabs were killed in violent criminal incidents in 2024. In 2023, a record number of 244 Israeli-Arabs were murdered, more than double the 120 homicides in 2022.
The spike in violence is attributed to organized crime groups fighting turf battles and trying to eliminate rivals. Arab criminal organizations have been involved in extortion, money laundering, and trafficking in weapons, drugs and women.