An Arab Israeli man was shot dead Tuesday evening on a northern highway, in an apparent gangland hit.
The victim was identified as Abed al-Latif Zaytoon, a resident of Nahf in his 30s, who Hebrew media reports said served as a “money man” for the Abu Latif crime family.
He was the latest member of Israel’s Arab community to be killed in a violent crime surge that has seen homicides surge to record levels in 2023.
According to police, the man was critically wounded by gunfire from a passing vehicle while driving near the Meggido interchange. Paramedics took him to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Police announced an investigation into the shooting and dispatched officers to the scene to search for suspects.
A statement from police said the shooting appeared linked to a dispute between rival criminal organizations.
הנרצח סמוך לצומת מגידו: עבד א-לטיף זייתון, תושב נחף. הוא הנרצח ה-159 מתחילת השנה בחברה הערבית, לעומת 72 בתקופה המקבילה אשתקד@GLZRadio pic.twitter.com/PWD91HRfVE
— אדם פרג׳| Adam faraj| آدَم فَــرَج (@Adamfaraj14) August 29, 2023
According to the Abraham Initiatives, an anti-violence advocacy group, Zaytoon was the 159th Arab to be violently killed in Israel since the start of the year, the vast majority of them in shootings. During the same period in 2022, 72 members of the community died in homicides.
Citing estimates that police sources shared with a senior municipal official, Zman Israel, The Times of Israel’s Hebrew sister site, reported Tuesday that 35% of those killed this year are believed to be in crime groups, most of them low-ranking “soldiers.”
Another quarter of the victims are relatives of gangsters but have no involvement in crime themselves, with some believed to have been slain in retaliation killings by rival outfits.
Forty percent of the victims were estimated to be members of criminal groups or part of their extended families, who were killed after accumulating “gray market” debts; in local or business disputes that involved criminals; for performing political or communal activities that the gangs viewed as a threat; or caught in the crossfire.
The remaining homicides include the killings of women and children by family members.
Most of the murders remain unsolved, with police lacking precise intelligence about motives. They do, however, usually know whether those killed were part of the underworld as a result of the force’s efforts to keep tabs on gangs and their members.
