Five people were killed today in a shooting in a Nazareth suburb amid growing criticism of the Netanyahu government for failing to crack down on crime in Arab-dominated areas of Israel.

According to the Red Star of David (also the equivalent of the Red Cross in Israel), the five men died of their injuries shortly after they were taken to the hospital.

Israeli police said a strong police force had been deployed to the area to search for those responsible for the attack, stressing that they believed it was a score-settling between rival gangs.

A video posted to social media shows a car on fire following the shooting incident.

A few hours earlier, in another suburb of Nazareth, a 30-year-old man and a three-year-old girl were wounded by shelling.

Since the beginning of the year, 97 members of the Arab minority in Israel have become victims of the growing crime, according to the non-governmental organization Abraham Initiatives. Of these, 42 were under 30 years of age.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was “shocked” by the brutal crime as two Arab opposition MPs called on him to fire National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

Source: APE-MPE, Reuters, Xinhua.