An Arab man was shot dead in a suspected hate crime attack overnight Monday in the central city of Lod, where riots broke out in the wake of the tensions in Jerusalem.
The victim was identified as 25-year old Moussa Hassoun and a 34-year old Jewish resident of the city was arrested on suspicion of being involved in the shooting. Hassoun was taken to Shamir Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
A 20-year-old man was also moderately wounded in the incident and was evacuated to the Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv.
The shooting occurred at the same time as violent riots in the city, which has a large Arab population. According to police, a group of Arab youths threw stones at passing cars and set trash bins on fire when shots were fired at them from an undetermined location.
The police are now investigating whether the killing was directly related to the riots.
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Religious Jewish school after it was set on fire during riots on Monday in Lod
(Photo: Arik Kuntz)
"Lod is burning," a senior police official said. "The riots continued all night and Arab youths were determined to hurl stones and set fires," he said, adding that a synagogue and a military academy in the city was set on fire during the rioting.
The rioters also replaced Israeli flags put up by the municipality in the city with Palestinian flags. At least 16 rioters in Lod and the neighboring Ramla were arrested.
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Palestinian flags hoisted in Lod after Israeli flags were removed by rioters on Monday
(Photo: Courtesy)
Hadar Miller, a Jewish resident of the city, said she was terrified during the riots in the city. "It was a shocking night, with endless explosions, police sirens and fires. It was terrifying and made me think of Kristallnacht," she said, referring to the 1938 pogroms against Germany's Jews carried out by Nazi troops.
"As a mother of four we were frightened by the shots that were being fired around us. We live with Arabs and I think this was a tiny minority who is destroying the lives of Jewish and Arab residents alike," she said.
The riots in the Arab sector took place all around the country on Monday in the wake of the violent clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem.
Traffic was blocked and tyres were set on fire while in some instances rioters hurled stones at police officers and passing vehicles.
A 25-year old man was injured by stones hurled at his car in the north. He was taken to the Rambam Hospital in Haifa for treatment.
In the area of Nazareth, rioters attacked the car of a 40-year old resident of the neighboring Jewish city of Nof HaGalil. Residents from the Arab village of Kafr Kanna helped the man escape without injury and alerted the police.
In southern Israel, 31 residents of the Bedouin city of Rahat and neighboring communities were arrested after rioting late on Monday, blocking Highway 6 and hurling stones at passing cars.