A 17-year-old boy was shot dead in Jaffa on Thursday evening, and a second teenager was wounded in the incident.
Police said they believe the incident is related to a criminal dispute.
Media outlets identified the victim as Imad Jabari, 17, a resident of Jaffa who attended the Al-Mustaqbal school in the city. Some outlets indicated he may have been 15 or 16 years old.
Police said they have launched an investigation into the shooting and were gathering evidence and speaking to witnesses.
The incident occurred on Ibn Rushd Street in Jaffa near Slope Park.
Get The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition
by email and never miss our top stories
By signing up, you agree to the terms
According to the Magen David Adom ambulance service, both of the teenagers were brought to the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, where Jabari was declared dead. The second boy is listed as in moderate condition.
**אלימות ללא הפסקה: בן 16 נרצח ביריות ביפו, נער נוסף נפצע בינוני.**
נקבע מותו של הנער בן ה-16, אימד ג’עברי, שנורה ברחוב אבן רושד ביפו, שליד פארק המדרון.
נער בן 15 נפצע אף הוא, מצבו מוגדר בינוני. הרקע פלילי. pic.twitter.com/6hwdH59ks5
— מה חדש. What’s new❓ (@Gloz111) June 25, 2026
Tel Aviv Deputy Mayor Amir Badran wrote on X that the murder in Jaffa is “a direct result of the government’s policy of abandonment and the police’s ongoing failure in the battle against organized crime and illegal weapons.”
Badran added that “crime doesn’t differentiate between Arabs and Jews, and it harms teenagers, women and innocent civilians, and today it is spreading throughout all sectors of Israeli society.”
Separately on Thursday evening, MDA said that a man was seriously wounded after being shot in Jisr az-Zarqa in Israel’s north. Police said they believed the incident to be related to a criminal dispute, and said they are opening an investigation.
The Abraham Initiatives, which tracks violent crime in Arab society, said that 137 members of the Arab community have been killed in homicides since the start of the year. That compares with 120 people during the same period last year.
Last year marked the deadliest year for Arab society on record, with 252 Arab citizens killed, as a years-long crisis of violent crime beset the minority. At the current rate, 2026 will surpass that record.
Homicides in Arab society soared to 244 in 2023 — more than double the previous year — and have since stayed high, with many in the community blaming far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir for inaction while in office.
We can’t do this work alone.
The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident – ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded – I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.
There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.
As a Times of Israel reporter, I’m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit’s. But my colleagues and I can’t do this alone. If you value work like this, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.
— Stav Levaton, military reporter
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You’re a dedicated reader
That’s why we started the Times of Israel – to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel