{"id":93941,"date":"2026-05-02T07:51:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T07:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/93941\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T07:51:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T07:51:13","slug":"two-men-shot-dead-in-apparent-underworld-hit-in-central-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/93941\/","title":{"rendered":"Two men shot dead in apparent underworld hit in central Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two men were shot dead while driving near the central city of Ramle, in an apparent underworld hit, medics and police said Saturday, as a violent crime wave continues to grip Israel\u2019s Arab community.<\/p>\n

Paramedics who arrived on the scene shortly after midnight Friday declared the two men, around 25 years old, dead at the scene, the Magen David Adom ambulance service said.<\/p>\n

The shooting was believed to be linked to an \u201congoing blood feud\u201d between crime families from the Ramla and Lod area, and officers are searching for suspects, police said.<\/p>\n

Police suspect the assailants followed the vehicle and fired at close range as it approached the interchange. The car then veered onto the shoulder and crashed into the guardrail.<\/p>\n

According to the Ynet news site, the identity of the victims is known to the police.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tGet The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition
\n\t\t\tby email and never miss our top stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n

The report also said that a burned vehicle, believed to have been used by the assailants, was found in the nearby city of Lod after the killings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hitmen lay in wait for the victims from the moment they left their homes in order to carry out the killing at an isolated spot on the road, a source familiar with the case told Channel 12 news.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"
\n\t\tPolice at the scene of a double homicide near Ramle, May 2, 2026. (Israel Police)<\/p>\n

Police were concerned about a possible retaliatory attack in response to the killings.<\/p>\n

The killings came just hours after a resident of the southern Bedouin city of Rahat, Ismail Abu Aabed, 27, was shot dead.<\/p>\n

The three incidents brought the number of homicide victims in Israel\u2019s Arab community to 98 since the start of the year, according to the Abraham Initiatives, a watchdog that tracks crime-related killings in Arab society. To date, the number of Arab homicide victims is at least 18 percent higher than last year\u2019s figure at the same point in time.<\/p>\n

Many in Israel accuse National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir of allowing crime to fester in Arab communities, arguing that police under the far-right politician\u2019s oversight have neglected enforcement in Arab towns.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"
\n\t\tNational Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir outside the High Court in Jerusalem, April 15, 2026 (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

The minister took office toward the end of 2022. In 2023, his first full year in office, homicides in Arab society soared to over 240 \u2014 more than double the toll in 2022, which at the time had been the\u00a0bloodiest year\u00a0on record.<\/p>\n

Under Ben Gvir\u2019s guidance, critics charge, police have done little to curb organized crime in Arab towns, instead prioritizing fighting terrorism or lawlessness affecting Jewish areas.<\/p>\n

Community members say gangland activity has driven an influx of gun violence, worsening existing blood feuds between families.<\/p>\n

The violence has cast a pall across the community, with innocent passersby regularly caught in the middle of deadly shootings. In many Arab towns, shop owners now close by sundown, and parents say they are afraid to let their children leave home.<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\tWhich gorgeous bird do you prefer?\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

THIS MONTH ONLY: Join our reader support group for as little as $6\/month and receive an exclusive tote bag featuring one of Israel\u2019s native birds.<\/p>\n

Choose between the\u00a0Duchifat (yellow), Israel’s national bird, or the Shaldag (blue), a beloved symbol of the Israeli landscape.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As a member of the Times of Israel Community,\u00a0you’ll also enjoy:<\/p>\n


\nAn ad-free experience of our site and podcasts.
\nExclusive access to award-winning films via DocuNation.
\nWeekly letters from founding editor David Horovitz. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tJoin ToI Community & claim my bag\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tCLAIM YOUR BAG\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\tAlready a member? Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\tYou appreciate our wartime journalism\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\t\t\tWe\u2019re really pleased that you\u2019ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month. \n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

You clearly find our careful reporting of the Iran war valuable, at a time when facts are often distorted and news coverage often lacks context.<\/p>\n

Your support is essential to continue our work. We want to continue delivering the professional journalism you value, even as the demands on our newsroom have grown dramatically during this ongoing conflict.<\/p>\n

So today, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6 a month you’ll become our partners while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing\u00a0exclusive content\u00a0available only to Times of Israel Community members.<\/p>\n

Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel<\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tJoin Our Community\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tJoin Our Community\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\tAlready a member? Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two men were shot dead while driving near the central city of Ramle, in an apparent underworld hit,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":93942,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[9860,1105,33143,37,5869,8750,33146,33144,33145],"class_list":{"0":"post-93941","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-arab-israelis","9":"tag-crime","10":"tag-crime-families","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-israel-police","13":"tag-itamar-ben-gvir","14":"tag-lod","15":"tag-organized-crime","16":"tag-ramle"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116503896946346262","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}