Israel Police arrested 14 individuals on suspicion of involvement in recent violent incidents between the Bakri and Khariri crime families on Friday, a day after five Israeli Arabs were killed in a shooting involving the families in Yafia, near Nazareth.
Naim Margiyeh, Abu Naim Margiyeh, Iliyah Margiyeh, Louis Abu Ragheb and Abraheem Shehadeh, all connected to the Bakri family, were shot and killed at a car wash owned by the family in Yafia on Thursday.
Over 20 people have been killed in clashes between the Bakri family and the rival Khariri clan in the last two years, according to reports.
Additionally, on Friday, police arrested a man suspected of shooting and injuring a man and a young girl in Kfar Kana on Thursday. The suspect threw a bag containing a Carlo-type gun while being chased by police.
Police arrest suspects in gang violence in Nazareth, June 9, 2023 (credit: ISRAEL POLICE)97 Arabs killed in Israel since beginning of year
The five deaths brought the number of Arab individuals killed in acts of violence and crime in Israel since the beginning of 2023 to 97. Later in the day, an additional person was shot and killed in a separate incident near Rosh Ha’ayin, bring the number to 98.
In the same period last year, 34 Arab individuals were killed. In total, 115 Arab individuals were killed in Israel in the entirety of last year.
High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens holds general strike
On Thursday, the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel announced that the Arab sector would hold a general strike on Friday in response to the massacre in Yafia, calling for demonstrations throughout the Arab sector on Friday and Saturday.
The committee accused the government of “deliberate and systematic inaction” and added that it would soon announce “other escalating steps.”
“In the face of the increasing manifestations of violence and crime, we have to escalate our struggle and confront this ‘reality’ that is practiced and imposed systematically and officially against Arab society, more than in the past, which calls for directing all feelings of anger and tension in the right direction, especially since we believe that this issue is essentially a political battle, and that the Israeli establishment does not deal with us as citizens and holders of rights.”
Joanie Margulies contributed to this report.
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