Israeli police officers on Monday shot dead a man brandishing a knife on a street in Haifa after he allegedly attempted to stab them while they tried to arrest him.
Munir Anabtawi, 33, was a resident of Haifa and according to some family members suffered from mental health issues.
Scene of the incident where a man was shot by police
(Video: Avihu Shapira )
The police arrived at the scene after receiving a report from the man's mother about him raging on the street with a knife in the middle of the city's Wadi Nisnas neighborhood. The officers attempted to arrest him but he, according to the police, tried to stab them. The officers then fired several shots in his direction, neutralizing him.
Magen David Adom paramedics who arrived at the scene, transferred the man in critical condition to the city’s Rambam Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead.
An investigation into the incident is now underway.
“Police officers who arrived at the scene identified the suspect and tried to arrest him. After he tried to stab them, they fired at him. The circumstances of the incident are being investigated," police said in a statement.
Anabtawi sister, however, said her brother was mentally unwell and should not have been shot.
"They murdered my brother in cold blood, he is a sick person and needs treatment, why was he shot? What does it mean he was raging?" she said. "We will not be silent. Instead of the police helping us, they killed him. It is a failed police force that only knows how to shoot people who suffer from mental problems."
A neighbor who lives near the scene of the shooting said: "I heard three shots and looked out the window. I do not know who was shot though, I am not familiar with the man that was shot."
Following the incident, the Mossawa Center for Arab Civil Rights in Israel contacted the Police’s Internal Investigations Department and demanded an immediate investigation into the deadly shooting.