A 27-year-old man was killed Sunday morning in a shooting while on his way to work in the northern Arab town of Yafa an-Naseriyye, close to Nazareth.
Paramedics called to the scene found the victim, named Nour al-Din Abdelqader, lying on the ground with severe injuries, the Magen David Adom ambulance service said in a statement.
They pronounced him dead on the scene.
Police said they are investigating the incident.
Since the start of 2025, 54 Arabs have been killed in violent circumstances, according to the Abraham Initiatives coexistence group that tracks violence in the community.
The past few years have seen a massive uptick of violent crime in Arab society, which claimed over 200 lives annually in both 2023 and 2024.
Illustrative: Police at the scene where five people were shot dead in the town of Yafa an-Naseriyye, June 8, 2023. (Fadi Amun/Flash90)
Many community leaders blame law enforcement for the spiraling crime rate, accusing police of neglect as the majority of Arab sector murder cases go unsolved.
In an annual report, the Abraham Initiatives estimated that last year law enforcement solved just under 15 percent of Arab murder cases.
The Abraham Initiatives has documented a surge in murder rates in the community since 2023, the first year in office of former national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who resigned earlier this year over the Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal.
In January, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet approved the temporary appointment of Tourism Minister Haim Katz to the three ministerial positions left vacant when Ben Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit party quit the government, including the National Security Ministry, which deals with policing.
In 2024, the Abraham Initiatives recorded 230 homicides in the Arab community, and in 2023, the watchdog counted 244 — more than double the previous year. The group attributed the rise to Ben Gvir’s scrapping of his predecessor’s plan, drafted in coordination with local Arab leaders, to fight organized crime in the community.
Police confirmed this January that the homicide rate in the Arab community more than doubled in 2023. Data for 2024 is yet to be released.
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