Prisoner Shot Dead at Bus Stop in Lower Galilee; Criminal Motive Suspected

A 37-year-old prisoner, Eyal Haib from Toura'a a-Zangaria, was shot and killed Friday morning at a bus stop on Highway 65 near the Tzalmon Stream interchange in the Lower Galilee. Haib, who was serving time at Hermon Prison, was on a work-release program and would leave the facility daily to work at a lumber factory in Hazor Ha'glilit, returning to prison each evening. Initial reports suggest the shooter was waiting for him along his regular route. The Israel Prison Service confirmed Haib was a rehabilitation prisoner en route to his work placement. Police have opened an investigation, stating the motive appears to be criminal. This incident marks the 188th homicide in the Arab community since the start of the year, with three occurring in the preceding 12 hours. Haib had previously been convicted of manslaughter and sentenced in 2015. Senior MDA paramedic Fadi Othman described arriving at the scene to find the victim, a man in his 30s, on the sidewalk with penetrating wounds, unresponsive. Despite resuscitation efforts initiated by a bystander and continued by MDA, the injuries were fatal.

Earlier Thursday night, two other individuals were killed in separate incidents. Ahmed Jamal, 25, was shot dead in Baqa al-Gharbiyya, and a 22-year-old man was murdered in Tamra. These incidents also resulted in five injuries, one serious. Additionally, seven other people were injured in separate violent incidents across the country overnight. The article also references a shooting on Monday in Rahat where a 21-year-old was killed and two others injured, with police investigating a family dispute as the likely motive. Last Thursday, Tarek Bassoul, 42, was shot and killed in Reineh, near Nazareth, with another woman sustaining moderate injuries; that incident is also being investigated as criminal.