A crime figure was killed Tuesday in a car explosion in Haifa, officials and Hebrew media reported, the seventh homicide victim in the Arab community in three days.

Rabee Abu Haikal, 50, was extracted from the flaming vehicle in the northern Kiryat Haim neighborhood, but medics pronounced him dead at the scene.

Police initially said officers were at the scene and investigating whether the explosion was an accident or a targeted bombing, but later said it was likely an underworld assassination.

An eyewitness told the Ynet news site that when the car exploded behind his vehicle, “I felt as if a missile landed next to me.”

He said there were “several booms, it was a crazy explosion,” adding that numerous families with children had been close by and fortunately weren’t harmed.

Originally from Umm al-Fahm and living in Haifa, Abu Haikal was linked to the Hariri crime gang and had a long criminal record, including being suspected in the 2023 double murder of two brothers in Nazareth.

The incident follows the killings of six people in shootings and car bombings across Israel on Sunday and Monday, including an........

© The Times of Israel