A man was killed and another injured in a car explosion Monday in Petah Tikva, central Israel, in what appears to have the hallmarks of organized crime.
This new violent episode follows a particularly bloody weekend marked by eight homicides committed in 48 hours, without forgetting the man who succumbed to gunshot wounds inflicted a little earlier.
Israeli police said they were alerted to a car on fire on Jabotinksky Street in Petah Tikva.
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The Magen David Adom emergency service indicated that when they arrived on site, their teams found a man in his thirties in a state of clinical death.
According to the same source, the victim found himself trapped inside the burning vehicle but there was another person lying near the vehicle with moderate injuries to the lower part of the body.
The injured man, who lives in Rishon Lezion and is around 30 years old, was transferred to Beilinson Hospital, where doctors said his condition was stable.
Police closed part of Jabotinsky Street to traffic while the forensic team combed the area for evidence.
According to the testimony of Ido Levi, collected by Ynet, he was waiting at a tram stop, on the other side of the street, when he heard “a very strong explosion” and saw smoke then flames coming out of the vehicle. He added that this explosion had caused panic and interrupted tram traffic.
Security officers rushed to help those trapped inside the burning car, Levi added.
Separately, the man shot in Ramat Gan on Sunday died from his injuries, police announced Monday.
According to Channel 13, the victim opened fire on an individual under the protection of an armed guard, who returned fire and killed him.
In addition, eight people were killed in the space of 48 hours in a new wave of violence within the Arab community.
Many community leaders hold the police responsible and blame them for what they describe as powerlessness in the face of powerful criminal organizations and inertia in the face of violence that takes the form of family feuds and mafia clan wars. or gender-based violence.
According to Abraham Initiatives, an NGO specializing in the study of coexistence and everything related to it, since the beginning of 2024, 213 Arabs have died in criminal circumstances.
New Israeli police chief Daniel Levy (left) and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir (right) during a ceremony in Levi’s honor, at the Ministry of National Security, in Jerusalem, on August 25, 2024. (Credit: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Last Wednesday, Israeli police chief Daniel Levy told the Knesset Internal Security Committee that despite the many deaths, “the crime figures in the Arab sector were very good” but that the media presented a darker picture to suggest that the situation was getting worse.
According to him, “contrary to what is said in the media… there is a drop in homicides and shootings. »
He also assured that cases of car theft were decreasing.
“You should be proud that the police are bringing down the crime numbers,” said Levy, who took over the police force a little less than three months ago.
At the meeting, opposition MPs mocked his remarks, starting with Avoda MP Gilad Kariv, who explained that the police chief’s statements “did not reflect the numbers.”
