![Israeli police intervene in a protester as Arab-Israelis and a group that supports them march from Habima Square to Kaplan Street, which became the center of the demonstrations, to protest the government's inability to fight criminals in the murders committed against Arabs in Tel Aviv, Israel on August 26, 2023 [Mostafa Alkharouf - Anadolu Agency]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/AA-20230826-32004394-32004385-PROTESTS_CONTINUE_AGAINST_ISRAELS_CONTROVERSIAL_JUDICIAL_REFORM.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
Amidst Israel’s relentless bombardment of the Gaza Strip that has now claimed over 23,000 Palestinian lives, violence and insecurity have spiked amongst the Palestinian minority citizens living inside Israel.
Haaretz reports 30-year-old Muhammad Fdily became the latest fatality after being gunned down in his home in Tira city yesterday. Fdily died of critical injuries in hospital, having no criminal past. Police suspect mafia-style loan sharks targeted him, indicative of the breakdown of law and order.
READ: Palestine citizens of Israel call out Israeli forces ‘complicity’ in rising murder rates
His killing marks the third homicide of an Arab Israeli since 2024 began – an ominous statistic given over 240 died last year in rampant crime waves plaguing the marginalised community. While Gaza reels from bombardment and civilian deaths in their thousands, Israel’s military adventures appear to be also instigating turmoil on the home front too.
On Friday, a 45-year-old woman was found lifeless inside a car with its engine running in an open area in Kafr Yasif and a man in his 60s was fatally shot in Baka Al-Gharbiyeh.
Last year 241 Palestinian citizens of Israel were killed, more than twice the number from the previous year. This is despite a significant decrease in the number of murder cases in the first months of the war in the Gaza Strip. The overall number of murder cases in Israel in 2023 was the highest in recent years, reaching 299 people.
Israel’s Arab citizens, comprising over 20 per cent of the population, have pleaded for greater resources as murders hit record levels in their communities. But government indifference has left vulnerable minority neighbourhoods beset by unchecked violence and lawlessness.
Despite paying taxes, Palestinian localities suffer chronic underfunding by Israeli authorities. Recent statistics paint a dire picture – over 140 Arab Israeli citizens were killed in 2022, more than three times the national murder rate. Yet per capita policing stands at just 20 per cent of the levels dedicated to Jewish locales.
READ: Arab MK deeply concerned by rising crime rate in Israel’s Arab community
Experts trace the crisis to ingrained discrimination in budgets, economic opportunities and infrastructure. The widening murder gap with the general populace lays bare a separate and unequal reality that endangers Palestinian citizens of Israel who are seen as alien outsiders rather than equal stakeholders.
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