LONDON: A 36-year-old man was fatally stabbed on Sunday night in Ofakim, a city in the Negev, amid ongoing violence affecting Palestinian communities within Israel and the authorities’ failure to address it, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported.
The victim is from Shaqib Al-Salam town in southern Israel. He became the 77th individual to die in crime-related incidents since January.
The year 2025 saw a record number of killings, with 252 Palestinian citizens of Israel as victims of crime. Representatives of the Arab community, which makes up about 20 percent of the Israeli population, accuse the Israeli police of negligence in tackling crime, as well as a failure to provide security and safety.
Over the years, Israeli police have solved only 15 percent of the murders in the Palestinian community, compared to 65 percent among Jewish Israelis. The far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, halted government funding in 2025 to combat crime in the Arab community.
In January, Palestinian citizens of Israel launched a general strike across their towns to protest against the Israeli police’s failure to protect their communities.
