Five killed in Israel mass shooting as Netanyahu scrambles to contain crime wave

Incident came minutes after another shooting injured a man and his three-year-old daughter

A woman holds a sign during a protest by Israeli-Arabs in Jerusalem to demand action on crime in the Arab community. EPA

Five people were killed in a mass shooting on Thursday in the northern Israeli city of Nazareth, days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a wide-ranging effort to tackle rapidly escalating crime rates in the Arab-Israeli community.

The incident came less than an hour after a man and his three-year-old daughter were seriously injured in a shooting in a nearby town.

In a statement, Mr Netanyahu said he “was shocked by the terrible murder near Nazareth”.

“We are determined to stop this chain of murders,” he added.

The deaths bring the total number of murders in the community this year to 97, almost triple the rate seen during the entirety of the previous year.

Speaking after the mass shooting, Mr Netanyahu said that he would be enlisting the help of the Shin Bet, Israel's internal security agency, as well as boosting police resources to address the violence.

Many critics of the government blame its far-right agenda for fuelling problems.

Speaking on Thursday, opposition leader Yair Lapid described the far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir as “the worst and most failed minister the police have ever known”.

Policing falls under the purview of Mr Ben-Gvir.

On Tuesday, the officer in charge of curbing crime rates in the Arab community in Nazareth resigned.

Crime leaders filling power vacuum

Organised crime is thought to be a major factor in the surge of murder rates this year.

Experts say poverty, a lack of banking infrastructure and a recent trend of established criminals fleeing abroad in recent years have left power vacuums that exacerbate territorial disputes among second-tier crime leaders.

Domestic violence is also thought to be a key driver of this year's rising murder rate.