How weapons from the Gaza war are killing Palestinians on Israel’s streets
Police officers at the scene of a car bombing in Ramle, 5 September 2024
Baker Zoubi reports in +972 on 1 October 2024:
As Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip approaches the one-year mark and the military begins a simultaneous ground invasion in southern Lebanon, another war is intensifying in parallel — one being waged by criminal gangs in Palestinian communities inside Israel. Since the beginning of 2024, more than 180 Palestinians citizens of Israel have been murdered in attacks linked to organized crime, a figure that could be on track to match last year’s record of 244. And it’s not just the numbers that are shocking; it’s also the nature of the attacks.
Whereas in the past, criminal killings were overwhelmingly shootings, in recent months there has been a sharp uptick in the use of explosive devices. The most notable example was a car bombing in the city of Ramle on Sept. 12, which killed four people — including two children — and wounded nine others, including a two-month-old baby. Last week, a similar attack in the city of Kiryat Malachi seriously wounded a Palestinian man from the Bedouin town of Hura.
For Palestinians across Israel, there is a sense that the adoption of such tactics means criminal organizations present a more lethal danger than ever before. And the proliferation of high-grade weaponry on Israel’s streets can be traced directly to the army’s year-long offensive in the Gaza Strip.
“Explosive devices of this size originate from the war in Gaza, or are connected to it in some way,” explained Dr. Walid Haddad, a criminology expert who previously advised Israel’s Public Security Ministry. “These are military methods, and most of the munitions used were smuggled or leaked from the army, unlike the relatively simple munitions used [by Palestinian resistance groups] in the West Bank against Israeli forces.”