A 27-year-old man was shot and killed Saturday morning in a parking lot near Kibbutz Reim, in the area surrounding the Gaza Strip, and a 23-year-old man was moderately injured, according to Walla News.
The first man was pronounced dead on arrival, while the second man, a family member of the dead victim, was evacuated to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba in moderate condition and fully conscious.
Both were identified as residents of Bedouin areas in the Negev Desert.
Police arrived on the scene and began a search for the attackers and launched an investigation into its circumstances. The attack is thought to have been motivated by a conflict between crime families.
One first responder who was at the scene of the killing described finding the 27-year-old victim sprawled on the ground, close to the kibbutz entrance.
“When we arrived, he was in critical condition,” the first responder said. “After giving CPR, we had to pronounce him dead. Another 23-year-old man was fully conscious, suffering from penetrating injuries. After administrating life-saving first treatment, we evacuated him to the hospital while in moderate and stable condition.”
The gang war raging in Israel
“When we arrived, he was in critical condition, after giving CPR we had to pronounce him dead.”
First responder
The murder was the most recent in a string of four killings in 48 hours, including that of a two-year-old child, in which multiple other victims were injured. At least three of the murders are being investigated for connections to violent conflicts between gangs and crime families.
Samar Agbaria, a resident of Umm el-Fahm, was shot to death on Thursday evening while sitting in a car at the Kafr Kara intersection. Magen David Adom medical staff who were called to the scene attempted to administer medical treatment to Agbaria, but eventually pronounced him dead.
Police are investigating the possibility that the most-recent murder is related to a bloody conflict between the Hariri and Bekri crime organizations. The killing was apparently carried out as a response to a murder in Haifa earlier in the day.
The Haifa killing took place in front of a police officer who was on duty driving behind the victim’s BMW. After arriving at the intersection, the officer saw two armed masked men, one with a Kalashnikov rifle and the other with a handgun, firing barrages of bullets at the car in front of him.
The officer got out of the vehicle and fired at the gunmen, but they escaped after jumping back into their vehicle and fleeing the scene. The officer found the victim sprayed with bullets in the BMW and called for backup.
The victim was a businessman with no criminal record. He owned a café and was in the business of selling hookahs, among other business endeavors, which strengthens the suspicion that this was some form of revenge killing. The investigation is just beginning. No suspects have yet been arrested.
Large forces from the Coastal Police District responded to the scene, and are searching for the killers. The investigation will be conducted by the Lahav 433 National Crime Unit.
Coastal District Superintendent Yoram Sofer met with command staff and representatives of Lahav 433. He then ordered increased police presence in various centers of the district in an effort to prevent further incidents.
“The wounded man was sitting in a car at the intersection while unconscious and suffered gunshot wounds to his body. We performed medical tests, but he was not showing signs of life and his death was determined at the scene of the incident,” senior MDA medic Yarin Harbi said.
Israel Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai directed Lahav 433 and various districts to conduct a joint investigation into the killings.