Israel Declares State of Emergency Following Beersheba Incident

Members of an Israeli emergency and response team clean the blood stains at the scene of an attack in Beersheba, southern Israel, Tuesday, March 22, 2022. (AFP)
Members of an Israeli emergency and response team clean the blood stains at the scene of an attack in Beersheba, southern Israel, Tuesday, March 22, 2022. (AFP)
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Israel Declares State of Emergency Following Beersheba Incident

Members of an Israeli emergency and response team clean the blood stains at the scene of an attack in Beersheba, southern Israel, Tuesday, March 22, 2022. (AFP)
Members of an Israeli emergency and response team clean the blood stains at the scene of an attack in Beersheba, southern Israel, Tuesday, March 22, 2022. (AFP)

A knife-wielding Arab man on Tuesday killed four people and seriously wounded two others in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba before he was shot dead by armed residents.

Israeli media identified the attacker as 34-year-old teacher Mohammad Ghaleb Abu al-Qeian from the nearby Bedouin town of Hura.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett held security consultations on Wednesday
with Defense Minister Benny Gantz, Police Chief Kobi Shabtai, Internal Security Minister Omer Bar-Lev and intelligence representatives.

Security forces have acted to reach everyone who had direct or indirect contact with the terrorist, Bennett told ministers.

“We will reach whoever aided and abetted, inspired, incited or cooperated,” he stressed.

The PM commended the two civilians who acted with “resourcefulness and courage and simply saved lives.”

Arab parties warned the residents of Israel (Palestinians 48) from repatriating acts by extremist Jews against Arabs living in the Negev.

Member of the Knesset Aida Touma-Suleiman (Joint Arab List) stressed that Arab citizens in Israel condemn this operation and consider it a distortion of their legal struggle for equality, peace and end of occupation.

Some people are taking advantage of this individual operation to “incite against Arabs in general and the Negev in particular and threaten Arab youth,” she stressed.

Touma-Suleiman recalled the formation of armed Jewish militias, which were encouraged by the police and the government to pursue the Arabs of the Negev under the pretext of losing the rule of law.

The four people killed were named as Doris Yahbas, 49, a mother of three, Laura Yitzhak, 43, also a mother of three, Rabbi Moshe Kravitzky, 48, a father of four, and Menahem Yehezkel, 67, a brother to four.



Syrian Government Forces Set to Re-enter Sweida Province

FILE PHOTO: Members of Syrian security forces walk on a road in Sweida countryside, as vehicles transporting other Syrian security forces make their way out of the predominantly Druze city of Sweida, Syria, July 16, 2025. REUTERS/Karam al-Masri/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Members of Syrian security forces walk on a road in Sweida countryside, as vehicles transporting other Syrian security forces make their way out of the predominantly Druze city of Sweida, Syria, July 16, 2025. REUTERS/Karam al-Masri/File Photo
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Syrian Government Forces Set to Re-enter Sweida Province

FILE PHOTO: Members of Syrian security forces walk on a road in Sweida countryside, as vehicles transporting other Syrian security forces make their way out of the predominantly Druze city of Sweida, Syria, July 16, 2025. REUTERS/Karam al-Masri/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Members of Syrian security forces walk on a road in Sweida countryside, as vehicles transporting other Syrian security forces make their way out of the predominantly Druze city of Sweida, Syria, July 16, 2025. REUTERS/Karam al-Masri/File Photo

Renewed clashes broke out overnight between Druze armed groups and members of Bedouin clans in southern Syria, and government forces were preparing to deploy again to the area Friday after pulling out under a ceasefire agreement that halted several days of violence earlier this week, officials said.

Government security forces agreed with some of the Druze factions that they would re-enter the area to impose stability and protect state institutions, according to two Syrian officials who spoke Friday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Syrian government forces had largely pulled out of the Druze-majority southern province of Sweida after days of clashes.