Three people were shot dead in the northern Arab city of Nazareth in two separate incidents less than three hours apart on Wednesday night, amid an upsurge in criminal violence rocking Israel’s Arab communities.

A 27-year-old Nazareth resident was shot dead in the northern Arab city, with officers rushing to the scene and searching for suspects, police said.

Earlier, two men in their 30s were killed in Nazareth, when shots were fired toward a car, according to police and the Magen David Adom ambulance service.

Officers were also searching for suspects in that shooting, police said.

Medics who were alerted to the shooting found the two men with serious penetrating wounds, with no pulse and not breathing, and declared them dead on the spot, the ambulance service said.

Both shootings were of a “criminal” rather than nationalist nature, and “the circumstances are under investigation,” police said.

The victims of the shootings were not........

© The Times of Israel