Three men were shot dead early Wednesday morning at a construction site in the northern city of Shfaram, in what police suspect was a criminal hit tied to an ongoing feud between local crime groups, as Israel’s Arab sector marked another deadly start to 2026.
According to figures released Wednesday morning by Abraham Initiatives, eight Arab citizens have been killed since the start of the year. Seven of the victims were shot to death, four were aged 30 or younger, and in the same period last year, there was a single victim.
Responding to the latest killings, the Abraham Initiatives said Israel was facing a “national emergency.”
“We are in a state of national emergency. In the first week of the year alone, 11 people have been murdered in the Arab sector,” the organization said.
“This cannot continue, and must not continue. The Israeli government promised governance and security for its citizens, but instead is criminally abandoning the personal safety of Arab citizens.”
The shooting in Shfaram was reported to Magen David Adom at 7:21 a.m. Paramedics pronounced the three victims dead at the scene. Two were found inside the construction site, and a third was located in a pickup truck nearby, emergency services said.
Police said they suspect the killings were linked to a violent dispute between two local crime organizations operating in the area. Haaretz identified the rival groups as the Khawaled and Sawad organizations and reported that the shooting was part of a broader cycle of retaliatory attacks in the region.
One of the victims was identified as Yasser Hujirat, 53, a resident of Shfaram. The other two, Fathi Hujirat, 55, and Khaled Gadir, 62, were residents of Bir al-Maksur, according to reports.
Mixed Arab city of Shfaram gripped by violent fued between families
Ynet reported that investigators are examining whether the attack followed a familiar pattern of “blood revenge,” in which relatives or associates of a target are killed in their place. The outlet also noted that 31 people have been murdered in Shfaram over the past three and a half years amid entrenched criminal feuds.
A resident of Shfaram quoted by Haaretz said the warring organizations “harm anyone who belongs to, or has any family or social connection with, the rival group,” adding that the killings were likely revenge for a double murder that took place about a week ago in the North. The resident sharply criticized law enforcement, saying police were “busy investigating insults against their officers, while the bloodbath in the sector only intensifies.”
Amir Hanifas, a Shfaram resident and a prominent protest figure in the Druze community, blamed government policy for the surge in killings. “The blood spilled in the streets is on the hands of the government and of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir,” he told Haaretz. “Crime is not a decree of fate; it is the result of lack of governance and lack of will.”
Just hours before the Shfaram attack, a 20-year-old medical student, Mahmoud Jasser Abu Arar, was shot and killed overnight in Ar'ara. According to police, the shooting was linked to a family feud and suspected blood revenge in the Bedouin community. Abu Arar, who had returned to Israel only a day earlier from his medical studies in Georgia, died of his wounds at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba. Police said 10 suspects were arrested in connection with the killing.
The latest deaths come amid a particularly deadly stretch of violence. Earlier this week, a father and son, aged 34 and 15, were shot dead in Nazareth. Hours later, another man was killed in Kafr Kara. Separately, a 49-year-old woman was stabbed to death in Pardes Hanna; her husband was arrested on suspicion of murder.
In 2025, 252 Arab citizens were killed in incidents linked to violence and crime - the deadliest year on record. The opening days of 2026, with eight fatalities already recorded, have raised fears of a similar trajectory.
The Abraham Initiatives called for immediate and far-reaching government action, urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to declare a state of emergency, remove Ben-Gvir from his position, establish a dedicated cabinet to combat violent crime, and allocate all necessary resources to a coordinated national effort.
“This is a war in every sense, and it must be treated as such,” the organization said. “The blood of citizens is not expendable.”
President Isaac Herzog addressed the surge in violence this week, calling it a national challenge that demands urgent action. “Arab citizens of Israel are entitled to personal security like every citizen,” he said. “This reality is not a decree of fate. It is a critical national mission that can be addressed.”
Police said investigations into Wednesday’s killings were ongoing and that forces had launched a manhunt for suspects involved in the Shfaram shooting.