Palestinian citizen of Israel shot dead in Umm Al-Fahm

A Palestinian man was shot and killed in the Palestinian town of Umm al-Fahm in Israel, according to Israeli media reports. 

The man, identified as a 50-year-old resident of the northern Israeli city of Haifa, was pronounced dead on the scene by medical officials. 

A woman was also lightly injured in the shooting, according to local police. 

The shooting is the latest in an alarming rise in homicide rates of Palestinian citizens in Israel. 85 Palestinians have been killed in violent crime since the beginning of the year, 74 of whom were shot, according to the Abraham Initiatives monitoring group. 

The violence has shone a spotlight on the inadequate police presence in these communities. Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir - who has advocated for the annexation of the entire West Bank - as largely remained silent. 

Critics accuse Israeli forces of turning a blind eye towards violence against Israel’s Palestinian community, some of whom accuse the police of being ‘complicit’. 

Palestinians that live within the borders of Israel are mainly those who were able to escape the brutal ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by Israeli forces and militias during the Nakba in 1948.