Two Israeli-citizen Palestinians killed within 24 hours in most recent spike of gun-violence

Two Palestinian citizens of Israel were killed by unknown shooters in less than 24 hours, in the latest ramp-up of gun violence in Israel's Palestinian community.
 
On late Tuesday, 30-year-old Rabab Abu Siam, a mother of three girls, the oldest being eight years old and the youngest only three, was shot dead in front of her house in the city of Lod, within Israel's 1948 boundaries, by a masked unknown man.
 
Then on Wednesday afternoon, a 45-year-old Palestinian, Josef Rouhana, was found shot in the town of Asafia, in northern Israel, and was transferred to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
 
The two victims are the latest in a wave of anonymous killings in Palestinian towns in Israel, that have claimed the lives of 30 Palestinians over the past two months, according to the Haifa-based Palestinian social researcher Razi Nabulsi.

"If he kills me, you have to take care of the girls."
We cannot describe the pain we feel about the murder of Rabab Abu Siam. 27/07/2022
1/2 pic.twitter.com/9G9Lcro49H

— Kayan Feminist (@KayanFeminist) July 28, 2022

 "This is a phenomenon that has hammered the Palestinian community in the 1948 territories in the last twenty years, and that has increased recently," the researcher told The New Arab.
 
"There are immediate reasons for this spike of killings, mainly the current street war between rivalling criminal gangs, who also act as hired killers in family disputes," he noted.

"However, there are more structural reasons, especially Israel's systematic negligence of Palestinian communities, including the absence of security and development in them," Nabulsi added. 

Since the October 2000 uprising, the researcher said, Israel targeted the native Palestinian social structures that kept order in these communities, creating a vacuum that the state itself did not fill.

مقتل الشاب جوزيف روحانا في قرية عسفيا والشابة رباب أبو صيام في مدينة اللد. pic.twitter.com/kDG5nObpWr

— الجرمق الإخباري (@aljarmaqnet) July 26, 2022

"This targeting, including through arrests, increased in the last years. At the same time, many gang members tightened their control on the street, many of whom enjoy protection by members of the Israeli security apparatus," he added.

Israeli police said they were looking for suspects, including Rabab Abu Siam's ex-husband, who the family accused previously of threatening her multiple times without reaction from the Israeli police, according to Israeli media.
 
Israeli media reports the toll of Palestinian victims from street violence has reached more than 60 since the beginning of 2022. In 2021, the toll was at 126.