A grim statistic: According to data published by the Michal Sela Forum, since the outbreak of the Swords of Iron war and the reform easing gun ownership rules by the National Security Ministry, 22 women and one girl have been murdered by a relative using a firearm. That is out of 71 total victims of domestic homicide.
The figure represents an increase of more than 100% compared with the equivalent period before the war, when nine women were murdered with firearms. Most of the victims were from Arab society, but not all. In the period before the war, only one Jewish woman was murdered with a firearm. In the two and a half years since October 7, six Jewish women have been murdered with firearms.
The Michal Sela Forum will present the figures this week at a Knesset National Security Committee hearing on the firearm licensing reform. Lili Ben Ami, CEO of the forum, accused the committee of “fleeing national responsibility in the face of data that should shake the government table.”
2 View gallery
Since the beginning of the war, 22 women and a 9-year-old girl have been murdered with firearms by a relative
(Photo: Courtesy of the families, from Instagram)
In 2025, a record was set for domestic femicides: 31 women and three children. According to the forum’s breakdown, the increase was recorded not only in the number of murders but also in the share carried out with firearms. Since 2020, when the forum began monitoring the issue, fewer than one-third of domestic homicides were committed with firearms, and the total number was relatively marginal. In 2025, however, firearms were used in more than half of the murders, or 52%.
In 2026, which is not yet over, 56% of the murders have been carried out with firearms. “The numbers are rising drastically,” Ben Ami told ynet. “This is an invisible front of the war.” According to her, the forum receives many appeals from women who fear their partners will receive licensed weapons, and in one particularly worrying case, a woman told the forum that her violent partner received a gun license even though a judge had ruled that he could pose a danger. “Afterward they say, ‘The writing was on the wall,’” she said.
The rise in the number of women murdered, particularly with firearms, began at the end of 2024, not immediately after October 7. The forum attributes this to the relative easing of the fighting — after the first months of the war actually saw a decline in murders and in calls to domestic violence hotlines. The same pattern was seen during the coronavirus period and during previous periods of security tension: The spike in violence came after the calm. The forum links the rise in firearm use to the surge in gun owners since the Swords of Iron war.
Ben Ami told ynet about the family of Leah Malka, who was killed when her car exploded while she was driving last week.
“The family is shattered. She was the middle daughter, the pillar of the family. She has parents who love her, and they are also asking the public to come comfort them. They are sitting shiva in Bat Yam. They need every bit of support,” she said.
Ben Ami stressed that “this is the first time we are seeing tools of organized crime penetrate violence against women. Leah was murdered with a powerful explosive device, half a kilogram of explosives. We know this from Arab society.”
She added: “We are seeing two worrying trends of organized crime against women in Jewish society. We had not seen the planting of explosive devices either, and now, with Leah’s murder, this should worry the National Security Ministry. At the Michal Sela Forum, we measured a 500% rise in the murder of Jewish women with weapons.
“Seventy-two people have been murdered, most of them women — 64 women since October 7 who were murdered within the family, using all types of weapons. The new figure concerns firearms. If you look at 2025, there is a 1,600% increase in the murder of women with guns compared with the previous year.”
Na’amat chairwoman Hagit Pe’er added: “Weapons are being handed out to anyone who asks, and these are the results on the ground. When there is violence and it spreads everywhere and into everything, it can end in murder over a parking spot, and it seeps into safety at home. We will unequivocally see an increase in these cases.”
'Do not endanger innocent people'
Following the reform, carried out through a series of legislative changes and relaxed criteria by the National Security Ministry under Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, the number of licensed gun owners doubled, from 150,000 before the war to more than 300,000 afterward. Police do not publish which firearm murders were committed with licensed weapons or with weapons stolen from licensed gun owners.
“The state has the data, but it is not published,” Ben Ami said. “We, as an association, collect the data through painstaking work, based on media reports and conversations with families. But this is information the state should publish.”
Ben Ami believes gun ownership is not inherently wrong, but says not enough has been done to ensure weapons do not reach the wrong hands.
“A weapon saves lives — there is no doubt about that, especially after the massacre of civilians in their homes on Oct. 7, 2023,” the forum’s position paper said. “However, it is important to ensure that weapons do not reach the wrong hands in a way that could endanger innocent lives.”
The National Security Ministry responded to Ben Ami's comments. “In accordance with the Firearms Law, every license applicant is examined by Israel Police regarding criminal dangerousness and by the Health Ministry regarding medical fitness to carry a firearm. Both bodies transfer their determination/recommendation to the division through an online interface. The National Security Ministry attaches great importance to and works extensively to ensure the required balance between granting a license for self-defense and ensuring it is held by those who are fit to do so safely for themselves and their surroundings,” the ministry said in a statement.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said one woman was murdered with a weapon issued under the reform. “All the rest? IDF weapons, security guard weapons, illegal weapons and violent incidents that have no connection whatsoever to the gun reform," he said. "Since the reform, more than 277,000 law-abiding citizens have been added who legally carry weapons. Terror attacks have dropped dramatically, and when, God forbid, they did occur, they ended within seconds thanks to armed civilians who acted with determination and saved lives. Thanks to the policy I led, terrorists today understand that on any street corner there may be a citizen who will prevent them from carrying out a massacre. Weapons in the right hands save lives. Period. Go arm yourselves.”