Jerusalem, 11 January, 2026 (TPS-IL) — A 15-year-old boy was shot and killed in Nazareth on Saturday night, marking the second teenage murder in the city in just days amid a spike in violence within the Israeli-Arab community.
Azmi Gharib, a 10th-grade student, reportedly received a phone call instructing him to leave his home and was shot shortly afterward. Details about the exact location of the shooting remain unclear. He was rushed to a hospital in critical condition, where he was pronounced dead.
Police have launched an investigation, but no arrests have been made.
Earlier in the week, Adham Nasser and his 15-year-old son Nadim were killed while installing security cameras outside a house in Nazareth. Authorities believe the attackers may have misidentified the victims.
The Abraham Initiatives, a non-profit organization that promotes Arab integration into Israeli society, said that Gharib is the 16th Arab violently murdered since the start of the year, just 11 days ago. Thirteen of these deaths involved gunfire.
The spike continues a pattern of violence in the Arab sector, which saw a record number of 252 Israeli-Arabs murdered in 2025—more than double the 120 homicides in 2022.
The surge in violence is attributed to Organized Crime Groups fighting turf battles and attempting to eliminate rivals. Arab criminal organizations have been involved in extortion, money laundering, and trafficking in weapons, drugs, and women.
Critics argue the crime wave has worsened since Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right politician, became National Security Minister in 2022.
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