Palestinian citizen of Israel shot dead as he leaves cafe 

A Palestinian man was shot dead last night in the town of Baqa Al-Gharbiya, an Arab city in Israel.

Nader Maqaldeh, 48, was shot as he left a cafe, eyewitnesses told the Times of Israel. The killing was allegedly linked to an ongoing feud between two families in the city, it added.

An investigation into the shooting is ongoing, claim the Israeli authorities

So far this year, 40 Palestinian citizens of Israeli have been murdered. It comes after a Haaretz tally conducted earlier this month revealed a decrease in the homicide rate in the Israeli Arab community in 2022.

Some 47 such homicide cases were logged by this time last year. So far, only eight cases – 24 per cent – have been solved, of which only five led to indictments. Whereas, Israeli authorities have solved eight out of the 12 murders, or 67 per cent, in the Jewish community this year.

READ: 1 Palestinian killed, 10 injured in confrontations with Israeli forces in West Bank

Palestinian citizens of Israel face systematic discrimination and complain of being treated as second-class citizens in comparison to their Jewish counterparts.

Palestinians who managed to stay in their homes following the Nakba – forced exodus – of 1948 are known as Arab Israelis or Palestinian citizens of Israel. They make up around 20 per cent of Israel’s population.

They are centred in a group of Arab towns in central Israel known as the “Little Triangle,” along with the Galilee and Negev regions.

Numerous human rights groups decry Israeli policies against Arabs as a form of modern-day apartheid, with Arabs suffering racial discrimination in education, work and health care.