Two Rahat residents in their 20s were shot dead late Tuesday night as they were sitting in a vehicle at the Lehavim junction near Rahat in the South on Tuesday night.
The shots came from a passing car.
Ibrahim Sheikh al-Eid and Sharif Sheikh al-Eid were brought to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba, where they were pronounced dead. A third victim, who was moderately injured, is being treated there.
Police opened an investigation into the incident, with initial findings indicating that the shooting was conducted as part of a conflict between two feuding clans. A burnt-out vehicle was found in an open field near Highway 310, not far from the scene of the shooting, which police are examining as well.
On Wednesday afternoon, police arrested a resident of Rahat for involvement in the shooting, who will be brought for a hearing at the Beersheba Magistrate’s Court on Thursday for police to request to have his arrest extended.
The brother of one of the victims told Maariv, “My brother has passed and my father passed in 2017. We were sprayed [with bullets]. They were behind us and started shooting from the window. I saw God. I don’t know who shot, they were masked. What will it help if I speak?”
Amir Cohen, the commander of the southern district of Israel Police, said at a situation assessment after the shooting that the incident came “as a result of a blood feud of several years between families.”
“I instructed the central unit of the Negev region to handle the incident and alongside it we will allocate all the forces and means available to the district to reach the murderers. We will continue to carry out aggressive operations. As far as I’m concerned, this incident is the first priority of the district. We expect the local leadership to act and the normal citizens to cooperate with the police.”
Rahat mayor calls for heavier police presence
Rahat Mayor Ata Abu-Madighem stated that “This is a tragedy and a dangerous spillover, a tribal blood feud that has been going on for several years in the city.”
Abu-Madighem stressed that the residents of Rahat are concerned about the number of unsolved murders and that there are not enough police officers in the city.
Abu-Madighem stressed that the residents of Rahat are concerned about the number of unsolved murders and that there are not enough police officers in the city.
“Where did the NIS 80 million to add manpower to the Bedouin sector allocated by government decision 1279 go? Sixteen policemen on each shift in the city of Rahat will not bring the required results in an area of 45,000 dunams with a population of 80,000 inhabitants.”
The mayor called for more police officers to be hired and more security cameras to be installed.
“I call for cooperation between the community and the police, and note with praise the model of the parents’ patrol, numbering 80 volunteers together with the city police, but note with anger how the district command did not bother to invite the mayor of Rahat to the change of commanders ceremony a week ago, and were content with the mayor of Beersheba.”
144 Arabs killed in Israel since beginning of 2023
According to the Abraham Initiatives organization, 144 Arabs have been killed in acts of crime and violence in Israel since the beginning of the year, including 135 Israeli citizens and nine who were not citizens.
In the same period last year, 67 Arabs were killed. Seventy-eight of the Arab individuals killed this year were under the age of 30 and eight were women.