Three bodies found in burned vehicle near Jaljulya in latest Arab sector murder

Police suspect the three men, two brothers and their cousin from Jaljulia, were shot before the vehicle was set on fire early Sunday.

Three men found dead early Sunday in the back seat of a burned vehicle in an open area near Jatt in the Sharon region were identified as brothers Zain and Qassem Odeh, 16 and 19, and their cousin Yahya Basimi, 22, all from Jaljulya.

Police suspect the three were shot to death before the vehicle was set on fire early Sunday morning in an open area near Jatt, 36 kilometers north of Jaljulya. The police investigation into the incident is ongoing, and no arrests have been reported.

'The sooner the better'

"Mourning has descended on the city. We heard about the incident with great sorrow. We do not know what happened. People in the city are getting their information from social media," Jaljulya Mayor Rabi Darwish said in a statement to Walla.

"But one thing is clear," the mayor added, "the government apparently has still not really begun acting against the murderous crime in Arab society, and we call on it to act, and the sooner the better."

These murders brought the total number of people killed in Arab-sector criminal incidents in 2026 to 176. According to data from the Abraham Initiatives -- a non-profit that promotes equal rights for Israeli Arabs -- 179 were murdered during the same period last year.

"When we arrived at the scene, we saw a vehicle on fire. After the firefighting operations, we saw 3 men inside the vehicle who were unconscious, with no pulse and not breathing. We had no choice but to pronounce them dead at the scene," Magen David Adom emergency medical technician Abed Biyadsi and MDA paramedic Achva Saadia said