Two Arab citizens, including a young mother, were killed within hours of each other in separate shootings as Israel marked the start of Memorial Day on Monday night, amid a violent crime wave that continues to beset Israel’s Arab community.

Ahmad Issa, a young man in his 20s, was shot and killed late last night in Kafr Qasim in central Israel. He was taken to the hospital by paramedics but soon pronounced dead by medical staff.

Police in an initial statement said they launched an investigation into his death, which they suspect is linked to an “ongoing blood feud” in the city. No arrests have yet been reported.

Earlier that night, at around 9:30 p.m., paramedics found a young woman unconscious and suffering from a critical bullet wound to the head near Rahat, a Bedouin city in Israel’s south.

The victim, 27-year-old Sabrine al-Ataiqah, was treated on site, then taken to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba. Medical staff declared her dead soon after she arrived at the hospital.

The young mother, who lived in the city, leaves behind her nearly two-year-old son, according to the Ynet news site.

Police launched an investigation into Ataiqah’s death and within hours arrested her brother on suspicion of involvement in the shooting.

Israel’s Arab society has been suffering from a festering wave of violent crime, which has significantly worsened in the past three years. The outset of the war with Iran saw a brief dip in the deadly shootings, but they soon ramped back up, bringing the number of homicide victims in the community this year to 91.

To date, the number of Arab homicide victims is 18 percent higher than last year’s figure at the same point in time, according to the Abraham Initiatives, a watchdog that tracks crime-related killings in Arab society.

Issa, the victim in Kafr Qasim, was the second person to be killed in the city within a week, following the death of Marlene al-Touri on Thursday. The woman was found lifeless in a burning car. Police arrested her ex-husband on suspicion of involvement in her death.

The former spouse was tracked down and nabbed in an unrecognized Bedouin village in Israel’s south, far from the scene of the crime.

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