Palestinians in Israel
Gunmen kill four men in Nazareth within twenty-four hours
Graphic: Times of Palestine
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Gunmen shot dead a fourth man in Nazareth on Thursday evening, less than a day after three young men were killed in two shootings in the city two hours apart, the community news site Arab48 reported.
Mahmoud Biatra, 30, was hit by gunfire at about 6:45 pm and died at the Italian Hospital after resuscitation failed. Police said they had opened an investigation into "a shooting incident targeting a young man in Nazareth," that forces were searching for suspects and that the inquiry was continuing.
On Wednesday evening Nour Naffaa and Nour al-Helo were killed by heavy fire while sitting in a car in the city, and Mustafa Badra was shot dead about two hours later, the site reported. Israeli police said they were examining whether Thursday's killing connects to the three the night before.
Fifteen arrests, and a toll that keeps moving#
Police detained fifteen suspects overnight into Thursday in what they described as a violent feud between criminal organisations linked to the recent killings. "Large forces from the Northern District carried out intensive security activity in Nazareth as part of the investigation," a police statement said, adding that the suspects would be brought for custody hearings.
The Abraham Initiatives, the Jewish-Arab organisation that keeps the community's running count, put the toll of Palestinian citizens and residents killed in crime and violence since 1 January at 157 after Biatra's death, including 12 women and girls and five people killed by police fire. Arab48's own count reached 158.
Haaretz's tally puts 201 people murdered across Israel this year, so Arab citizens, about a fifth of the population, account for more than three quarters of the victims.
The Israeli daily reported that Biatra was known to the police. Neither the police nor the public security ministry had published a statement on the Nazareth killings beyond the investigation notices by Thursday night.
The Abraham Initiatives said the same period of 2025 had recorded 139 deaths, so the community's toll is running about 13 per cent above last year's pace with four months of 2026 still to go.
