After 17-Year-Old Ahmad Jabari Is Killed, Jaffa Residents Plan Protest

Less than a day after 17-year-old Ahmad Jabari was shot dead at the entrance to a grocery store in Jaffa, residents are preparing a protest in the city. The demonstration is set for today, Friday, after the noon prayer, at Al-Ghazaza Garden on Yefet Street, following a call from the elected Islamic Committee in Jaffa.

The committee said Jabari’s killing is no longer only a family tragedy, but another sign of a reality in which gunfire in the streets has become routine. In a statement, it said the rally is meant to protest violence and crime, as well as what it called the police’s ongoing failure to deal with criminal organizations and illegal weapons. “It is time to stop the bloodshed,” the committee said, urging the government and police to act immediately and decisively to dismantle crime groups and collect illegal arms before there are more victims.

Police opened a murder investigation after Jabari was shot on Thursday evening at the entrance to a store on Ibn Rushd Street in Jaffa. Magen David Adom crews found him unconscious, with no pulse and no breathing. He was taken to Wolfson Medical Center during resuscitation efforts, where doctors later pronounced him dead. A second teenager wounded in the shooting was also hospitalized.

Forensic investigators collected evidence from the scene and officers searched for the shooter or shooters. Police currently believe the motive was criminal. Jabari’s killing follows a recent wave of violence in Jaffa and nearby areas, including the killing of 19-year-old Asma Abu Ganem in Ramla overnight between Wednesday and Thursday and the severe wounding of a well-known 22-year-old TikToker in a June 14 shooting at a cafe on Raziel Street in Jaffa. In both of those cases, police also said the suspected background was criminal.