Man shot dead in Israel’s sixth suspected murder in a week; 68th Arab victim this year

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A 38-year-old resident of Taibeh was shot dead in the city on Tuesday. Police have launched a murder investigation, making this the sixth suspected murder in Israel in a week.

Fadi Abd al-Qader was taken to Meir Hospital in Kfar Sava, where he was pronounced dead.

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He is the 68th murder victim in the Arab community this year alone. Overnight into Tuesday, a 41-year-old man was shot dead in Haifa, and the day before a 42-year-old man was stabbed to death in Netanya. Only hours before that a 23-year-old Lod resident was shot to death, and on Saturday the body of a 48-year-old woman was found in the Jordan River. Another suspected murder was reported in Safed on Thursday. Police arrested suspects only in the last two cases.

38-year-old Fadi Abd al-Qader from Taibeh, Israel.

These join a shooting incident in Bat Yam on Monday, which left a woman in critical condition. No suspects were apprehended.

Police are trying to determine whether she was shot by her ex-partner or by a stray bullet.

The woman, Adi Peretz, 30, of Rishon Letzion, is in serious condition after suffering a head wound. She is sedated and on a respirator. She was shot while in her car with her 4-year-old daughter. The girl, her child with her ex-husband, was not hurt. At first police thought that the gunfire was aimed at a different car that was in her vicinity, or that the gunman had misidentified her, but now they are examining other possibilities.

Tel Aviv District Commander Maj. Gen. Ami Eshed assigned the investigation to the district’s Central Unit, which specializes in criminal organizations in the center of the country. After first believing that there was no video evidence, on Tuesday detectives obtained security footage from the area.

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Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, where Peretz was transferred after initial treatment in Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, said Tuesday that she was stable and reacting satisfactorily to the gradual withdrawal of the sedation. Prof. Rachel Grossman, deputy director of the hospital’s neurosurgery department, said that while Peretz was conscious at first, her condition deteriorated, and that her prognosis would be clarified in the next few days.

This week Haaretz reported that police solved only 22 percent of murder cases in the Arab community this year, while the number of cases rose.