Three masked gunmen armed with an M16 rifle and a pistol broke into a phone shop in Rahat on Sunday afternoon and stole merchandise worth about 120,000 shekels (around $32,000), after threatening the store clerk. The robbery lasted only a few minutes. The suspects grabbed mobile phones and smashed the display glass before fleeing.
Store owner Murad Kasha’ala said it was not the first time his shop had been robbed. He said that during a previous incident, police arrived but failed to find the thieves, and he ultimately identified them himself. Kasha’ala said he worked through local sheikhs to pressure the suspects into returning the money.
Footage from the robbery
Kasha’ala sharply criticized police performance in Rahat, saying officers do not provide residents with a sense of safety, even as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has launched Operation New Order targeting crime in the Bedouin sector.
“They came at noon, and there is no law, no judge, no police, nothing,” Kasha’ala said. “Ben-Gvir comes here, shouting and causing chaos, but there is no security. The robbers managed to escape and hide the goods. I know where it is and told the police, but I cannot go there.”
“I live in the State of Israel, where they say ‘security, security, security,’ and we have zero security, like Colombia,” he added. “Only after half an hour did the police arrive. I asked them what took you so long, and they just said, ‘We will see, we will check,’ and they do not move. I expect security from the State of Israel. Ben-Gvir shouts, but in the end, he only demolishes houses. The poor suffer and crime runs wild.”
He said that in the earlier robbery, he located the thieves himself. “A simple citizen caught thieves, the state did not,” he said. “Imagine that. I caught them, sent respected sheikhs and made them return all the money.”
Rahat has faced months of escalating violence, including shootings, murders and injuries, some involving children and teenagers. One resident said Sunday’s robbery could have ended in a killing.
“We cannot rule out gunfire,” the resident said. “This shows the widespread crime. The criminals do not care about Ben-Gvir and the police presence in the Negev.”
Other residents said the wave of crime and fear of stray bullets entering homes is no longer the only threat. They warned that armed robberies like Sunday’s attack could spread to other shops, reflecting a blatant disregard for people’s lives and safety.
Just last week, a robbery attempt at a jewelry store in the southern town of Ofakim was thwarted, thanks to the quick thinking of a shopkeeper who deployed special gas and smoke deterrent systems. The masked assailants fled the scene without managing to steal any items.