Ramla Resident Charged with Murder of His Partner After Argument
The State Prosecutor’s Office on Sunday morning filed an indictment with the Lod District Court against Suleiman Abu Rihaan, 32, of Ramla, for the aggravated murder of his partner and mother of their four children, Ranin Abu Rihaan, and for attempted murder of his sister and two other women, after he shot his partner to death last month in their home, then left the house, shot his sister as well, and later went down to the street and fired at two female drivers in passing cars. The indictment accuses the defendant of aggravated murder, three counts of attempted murder, attempted robbery, unlawful carrying of a weapon and obstruction of justice, and the prosecution also requested that he remain in custody until the end of the proceedings.
According to the indictment, submitted by attorney Roy Luss of the Central District Prosecutor’s Office, Criminal Division, the incident began in the morning hours on May 11 this year when an argument broke out between the couple, leading to his decision to cause her death. At the time, Ranin, who was 28 when she died, was helping him get dressed because of a broken hand and then was combing her daughter’s hair. To carry out the plan, he removed the cast from his hand, climbed onto the roof of the apartment and took from there a loaded semi-automatic Glock pistol that he possessed without lawful permit. When he returned to the apartment, he laid his partner on her stomach and shot her while holding her hands behind her back with one hand and the pistol in the other.
Later, he went down the stairs toward his parents’ apartment, met his sister and also tried to murder her by shooting at her upper body. The sister quickly entered the parents’ apartment, locked the door, and the defendant shot at the door in response. The sister was evacuated to the hospital with serious gunshot wounds. After that, the defendant went down to the street with the pistol in his hand and shot at two female drivers in passing cars. A truck driver who feared it was a terror attack fired at him with a pistol, and he fled to a nearby street, where he tried to steal a vehicle at gunpoint. When he failed, he concealed the pistol in his clothing and threw it onto the roof of the nearby mosque, intending to hide evidence. At one point he met family members, who drove him at his request to his uncle in Lod, where he showered and changed clothes, and the family members reported his whereabouts to the police. His detention was later extended by 12 days.
Footage from security cameras obtained by Channel 13 News revealed the moments of terror: a blue car is seen driving along a narrow street, while a person dressed in black waits on the sidewalk. When the car reached parallel to him, the suspect pulled out a weapon and fired several bursts at extremely close range at the driver. As a result of the shooting, the driver lost control, the car veered off course and crashed violently into the wall of a nearby building. Immediately afterward, the shooter was seen fleeing the scene on foot.
Attorney Gali Zinger, deputy CEO of the Women’s Lobby, said on the day of the murder: “This is a suspicion of horrifying gender-based murder. Ranin Elabid was murdered inside her home, while her four children were sleeping there, the youngest of them just four months old. Since the beginning of 2026, 8 women have already been murdered by their partner or a family member. The circumstances of the case will still be investigated, but one thing is already clear, we cannot stand idly by. Israeli society as a whole lives under ongoing violence, and in Arab society in particular, women and children pay the heaviest price in daily fear.”
“This does not happen by itself,” she added, “as early as 2025 we warned that the clearance rates for murder cases in Arab society are severely low. The police and law enforcement authorities must act quickly and decisively to complete the investigation and prosecute everyone involved in the murder. Without solving cases, enforcement and deterrence, thousands of threatened women live every day under threat.”
