A mother and her daughter were killed in a car explosion on the outskirts of the central town of Ramle on Wednesday evening. Police ruled out a terrorist attack and media reports said the incident was being investigated as an attack attributed to the underworld.
Media reports said the two women, the mother aged in her 50s and the daughter aged in her 20s, were likely relatives of people involved in a conflict between two crime families.
Footage from another car showed the moment of the explosion on Route 200, which occurred as many vehicles were driving near the car.
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The Magen David Adom rescue service said the two victims were trapped in the burning car and by the time firefighters and rescue workers reached them, they could no longer be saved and rescuers were forced to pronounce them dead.
Ramle police station deputy commander David Abekasis told reporters shortly after the incident that identifying the victims would take time “due to the condition of the bodies”.
Police arrived at the scene and collected evidence, including from the barely recognizable car, and suggested that a bomb had probably been planted inside.
A resident of a nearby neighborhood told the Ynet news site: “We heard a loud boom, the children were at home and we thought a missile had landed. When we looked out the balcony we saw fire and smoke. It was scary.”
Another resident, Roni Kadri, brother of pop singer Nasreen Kadri, told the Walla news site that the spot where the bomb exploded is a busy area where many children cross the street every day.
“At first I thought a rocket had fallen, but that seemed strange to me because we had heard about a cease-fire” with Hezbollah in Lebanon, he said. “Suddenly ambulances and police cars arrived, and people started gathering and watching. Imagine what would have happened if there had been children on the road. It is a miracle and a great opportunity. »
“Every time I hear about a new incident in this area, it’s scary,” Kadri added. “Many parents were at my house with young children, they were scared and panicked. My balcony was open and smoke came into my house. I must consider myself lucky that there was not more damage.”
Yoel Lavi, a member of the Ramle municipal council and former mayor of the city, said Wednesday’s explosion was “the result of the ineffectiveness of law enforcement agencies, the police and the courts.” , this type of crime is not punished heavily enough.
The wave of violent crime in the Arab community, which reached record levels last year, has continued this year. According to the nonprofit Abraham Initiatives, 109 community members were killed in violent crimes during the first half of 2024.
In September, an explosion in Ramle killed four people, including three children, and injured nine others in an incident that attracted much attention across the country.
Many leaders of Israel’s Arab community have accused police of failing to crack down on powerful criminal organizations and largely ignoring violence, which includes family feuds, turf wars between mafias and violence against women. .
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