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Jerusalem woman killed by gunfire during family feud

A woman is killed by a stray bullet as residents complain police were slow to arrive to break up neighborhood fighting.

By Paul Shindman, World Israel News

A young Arab woman was shot and killed by a stray bullet during a neighborhood family feud in the Wadi Joz area of Jerusalem just outside the Old City, Ynet reported Sunday.

Maryam al-Takrouri, 21, had apparently returned home from Ramadan prayers Saturday evening and was hit by a stray bullet fired during the brawling between two feuding families who battled it out in the streets, the report said.

Al-Takrouri was rushed to nearby Makassed Hospital, but was dead on arrival. Four other people were injured as both sides fired guns and fireworks at each other and hurled Molotov cocktails.

Residents of the Wadi Joz neighborhood in the eastern part of Jerusalem just outside the Old City walls claimed that the police received numerous reports of the disturbances, but arrived at the scene only after Al-Takrouri had been shot.

“Quite a few people called the police, but the police arrived late,” one neighbor told Ynet. “They did not want to come.”

In response to a request to respond to the charges they were slow to arrive on the scent, Israel Police sent Ynet the police spokesperson’s statement that an incident had occurred.

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“Tonight (Saturday), shortly before midnight, a report was received of an incident of violence between families in Wadi Joz in East Jerusalem during which weapons were used, Molotov cocktails were thrown and fireworks were fired,” the police statement read. “As a result, five people involved were evacuated for medical treatment, including one woman in her 20s who was pronounced dead at the hospital.”

Police said two suspects were arrested after their forces arrived on the scene and the investigation is continuing.

Over the weekend another brawl took place in the same location, during which a house was set on fire. Talks were then held to try and calm the situation and end the conflict between the families, but without success.

“The situation was extremely serious and we were unable to calm down those involved,” a neighborhood resident said. “All attempts failed, and even those who intervened had their lives endangered. We do not know what the background to the conflict is, and it is terrible that it ended in such a shocking disaster.”

Since the beginning of the year, 32 Arab citizens in Israel have been murdered, with the latest killings last week in the Palestinian town of Tulkarm, where two Israeli brothers Shafa and Salah Abu Hussein were shot dead. Their mother, Aida Abu-Hussein, was murdered in October 2020 in an apparent dispute between criminal clans.