Couple fatally shot while driving in Arab city in central Israel

Khaled and Hanan Jamal killed heading to work before sunrise in Qalansawe; cops suspect double homicide linked to conflict between two families in which truce recently expired

By Charlie Summers

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Today, 12:56 pm

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A man and woman were shot and killed early Thursday morning while driving in the central Israel city of Qalansawe, the latest to fall victim to the crisis of violent crime in Arab society.

Khaled and Hanan Jamal, a middle-aged couple, had been commuting to work when an assailant shot at their car. Police were called to the crime scene before sunrise.

Medics pronounced the husband dead at the scene. The wife was taken to Meir Hospital, located in nearby Kfar Saba, where she died of her injuries.

Police announced they launched an investigation into the killing as Border Police officers were seen operating in the area. No suspects were arrested as of midday Thursday.

Law enforcement suspects the shooting is linked to a conflict between two families. The couple was killed shortly after a temporary truce between the two families in conflict expired, according to Nas Radio, a Nazareth-based station.

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The Abraham Initiatives group, which tracks violent crime in Arab society, said the apparent double murder hiked this year’s toll of Arab homicide victims to 132.

Last year marked the deadliest year for Arab society on record with 252 Arab citizens killed, as a years-long crisis of violent crime beset the minority. At the current rate, 2026 will surpass that record.

On Wednesday evening, hours before the couple was killed, a Bedouin Israeli man was shot and killed while driving in southern Israel.

The victim, a man in his 40s named Samir Abu Arar, had been traveling in Arara BaNegev, a Bedouin town in the Negev Desert referred to in Arabic as Ararat an-Naqab, when ambushed by unknown assailants who intercepted his car and shot at him.

Medics took him to Beersheba’s Soroka Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

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