Against the backdrop of repeated statements by police and the National Security Ministry about fighting crime, the actual figures point to the opposite trend: Israel’s wave of deadly violence is breaking records. The number of murder victims is rising, the centers of violence are concentrated in certain areas and communities, and the gaps are only growing.
Freedom of information data provided at the request of the Movement for Freedom of Information paints a troubling picture of a continuing worsening in deadly violence in Israel. In 2025, 295 people were murdered, a direct continuation of the upward trend recorded since 2020, when the number of murder victims stood at just 147. The gender breakdown sharpens the picture: 250 of those murdered in 2025 were men and only 45 were women, an extreme gap that has characterized the figures in recent years.
Bleeding streets
At the same time, there has also been a gradual rise in the number of women murdered, from 29 in 2020 to 45 in 2025. But the most striking figure is the breakdown by population group. Although there was also an increase in the number of murders of Jews, it was significantly smaller than among Arab men: In 2020, 19 Jewish men were murdered, compared with 74 Arab Israeli men. In 2025, 179 Arab Israelis and 28 Palestinians were murdered, compared with 28 Jews. A similar trend is also evident among women, with more than half of the female murder victims being Arab.
When the 2026 figures are added, the picture remains unchanged: Since the start of the year, more than 104 people have already been murdered, the vast majority of them men, with the main centers of violence in the northern and coastal districts. Taken together, the figures point to a clear trend of a steady rise in the number of victims, a pronounced geographic and population concentration, and deep gaps that continue to widen.
Meanwhile, the police have yet to publish their 2024 statistical yearbook, which includes essential data on police activity as well as crime breakdowns. The yearbook’s importance goes beyond crime figures: It includes concrete data, graphs, trends and comparisons with previous years across all areas of police activity and crime trends. Despite previous promises, police said the yearbook is expected to be published soon.
Faced with the failure to deal with soaring crime, police say 35 murders have been thwarted so far this year, 26 of them in the Arab sector, compared with 2025, when 30 murder attempts were thwarted, including 25 in the Arab sector. Police also say they lack the tools to deal with what they define as “criminal terror.” They say broader administrative powers are needed, including authorization to use technological tools. Police officials said that “no one would expect the Shin Bet to thwart a terror attack by collecting evidence and building an investigative case, but that is exactly what police are required to do when confronting criminal terror.”
Attorney Yaara Winkler-Shalit of the Movement for Freedom of Information said: “The rise in murders is the result of criminal neglect by the police and severe discrimination in enforcement in Arab society. The data now revealed, only after we were forced to petition against the police, proves the failure and the reason the information was hidden.”
Israel Police said: “The comparison between periods is misleading and requires a broader view. The reality today is fundamentally different, all the more so after October 7, given the scale of illegal weapons, leakage from the IDF and the strengthening of crime organizations.”