Netanya: 4 hurt in criminal shooting

Four people were injured Monday afternoon in a criminal assassination attempt in Netanya's industrial zone. Among the injured was Charlie Abutbul, the brother of slain mobster Felix Abutbul, who was murdered in Prague several years ago.

Abutbul was critically hurt in the attack, while two of the other people sustained moderate wounds. The shots were fired into a restaurant, located not far from a restaurant belonging to the Abutbul family. Eyewitnesses reported seeing a motorbike fleeing the scene.

Abutbul was hospitalized at the Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera, where local police deployed increased security around his hospital room for fear of a repeated assassination attempt there. 

An eyewitness at the scene of the crime told Ynet that "a motorbike carrying two young people wearing helmets arrived at the area. One of them got off the motorcycle, entered the restaurant and fired four shots. He then went out, got on the motorbike and fired two more shots at a Mazda car parked nearby. The two then fled the scene immediately.

Merav, another eyewitness, told Ynet that "the shooting was on the corner of Pinkas and Hamasger streets. I can see everything from the window. I heard four shots from the office while working, and immediately opened the window. I saw people leaving their offices and garages and approaching the shooting sire.

"An ambulance passing by began attending to the injured, who was filled with blood. Someone was hit. There is a car with bullet holes, and someone was evacuated into the ambulance."

On Sunday afternoon several shots were fired at a private vehicle traveling through the neighborhood of 'Ein Ganim' in Petah Tikva in what appears to be a botched criminal assassination. Both the shooter and the intended target fled the scene. The identities of the two individuals is not known, and police have launched an investigation into the incident.

Another incident took place at 2:30 am between Saturday and Sunday. A grenade was thrown at a house causing damage, but not injuries. The investigation revealed that the targeted house belongs to a man who had previously been investigated by the police. According to the police, there is no connection between the two incidents.

On Friday, a homemade explosive charge was discovered in Netanya near a kindergarten. The charge was intended for Rami Amira, who was the target of an attempted assassination that killed an innocent bystander.

A police source told Ynet that following the placement of the explosive charge near a kindergarten, the criminal element has no borders and does not care if innocents are injured.

"The criminal element want to strike their targets, even at the cost of hurting innocent civilians," said the source.

Roi Mandel contributed to this report