Qasem Asala, an 18-year-old resident of Arraba in the Lower Galilee, was shot dead Monday morning while driving to work. The attack occurred as he sat in his car, with his father present at the scene.
Police launched an investigation, saying the motive appears to be criminal. Asala’s death brings the number of victims in Israel’s Arab community this year to 214, of which only 18 cases have been solved. Officers arriving at the scene began searching for suspects and examining the circumstances of the shooting.
The murder scene in Arraba
The emergency call reached Magen David Adom’s dispatch center at 6:33 a.m. Paramedics met the wounded Asala in Arraba, but he showed no signs of life. “He was brought to us unconscious, without a pulse or breathing, with a penetrating wound to his body,” said MDA paramedic Yosef Badarna. “We conducted medical checks and had to pronounce him dead at the scene.”
The previous murder in the Arab community occurred Thursday, also in northern Israel. Muhammad Hajazi, a man in his 50s from the city of Tamra, was shot and killed in his home. The attackers also wounded his wife, who was moderately injured. Police said that case, too, appeared to be criminally motivated.