2022 Hadera Shooting

The perpetrators were Ayman Ighbariah and Ibrahim Ighbariah, cousins and Arab citizens of Israel from Umm al-Fahm.[4] Ibrahim, aged 29, had previously attempted to travel to Syria to join ISIS.[3] He was detained in Gaziantep, Turkey, in 2016, returned to Israel, tried, and imprisoned; he was later released after expressing remorse and promising not to join ISIS or another terrorist organization.[5] His imprisonment lasted a year and a half.[3] Ayman had been detained by Shin Bet in 2017 on suspicion of weapons violations and released without charges.[3]

Before the shooting, the cousins recorded and uploaded a video showing an improvised ISIS flag and pledging allegiance to the organization’s new leader.[5] One attacker ended the recording with the words, “We have come to slaughter you.”[5] They brought a substantial supply of weapons and ammunition: police subsequently described at least three handguns, six knives, and 1,100 bullets.[6] Other reporting described automatic rifles, full magazines, gloves, and a box containing hundreds of stolen Israeli military 5.56-millimeter rounds.[2]

The attack followed a deadly attack in Beersheba the preceding week.[2] Initial Israeli security assessments found no direct organizational connection between the Hadera gunmen and the Beersheba attacker.[2] The Hadera shooting occurred during a year of increased terrorist violence in Israel: 32 Israelis and foreigners were killed in terrorist attacks in 2022, the highest annual level since 2015–16.[1]

On the evening of March 27, the attackers arrived by vehicle on Herbert Samuel Street, parked nearby, and approached a bus stop.[2] They fired at close range at a group of Israelis after passengers had left a bus, killing two people at the scene and then continuing to shoot at passersby.[2] The initial shooting struck Border Police officers standing near the stop; the attackers took the officers’ weapons and continued firing.[1]

An undercover Border Police counterterrorism unit was dining at a restaurant approximately 40–50 meters away when its officers heard the gunfire.[2] They ran toward the shooting and killed both attackers in a brief exchange of fire.[2] A reconstruction based on security-camera footage found that about a minute and a half elapsed between the opening shots and the final shots fired by the responding officers.[2]

The two officers killed were Shirel Abukarat of Netanya and Yezen Falah of Kisra-Sumei, both aged 19.[4] They served in Border Police Company MG; Falah had enlisted about a year earlier and Abukarat about six months earlier.[4] Falah was survived by his parents and two siblings.[7] The Border Police commander said the officers had “protected civilians with their bodies” and that their actions saved lives.[4]

Magen David Adom emergency medical technician Viki Kelly, among the first responders, described seeing six people with gunshot wounds, some lying in the road and others on the sidewalk.[8] Medics triaged the casualties, provided life-saving treatment, and transferred wounded people to hospital.[8]

Early reporting described six wounded—two seriously, one moderately, and three lightly—and separately noted that three police officers were injured.[9] The same report said two additional people with very light injuries were treated at the scene.[9] A later report said 12 injured people arrived at Hillel Yaffe Hospital; seven were treated in the emergency department and released, while five remained hospitalized, including one in very serious condition.[4]

Other sources used different totals and categories. The Anti-Defamation League reported six injured, while the U.S. State Department later reported ten civilians injured.[3][1] The Jerusalem Post reported twelve injured, a count that included two civilians treated at the scene and five passersby evacuated with signs of post-traumatic stress.[10] The accounts therefore do not establish a single reconciled injury total.

Police helicopters searched the area for possible additional attackers. Five suspects, including relatives of the attackers, were arrested in Umm al-Fahm shortly after the shooting and overnight.[10][11] Police said one was suspected of assisting the gunmen and four of belonging to an ISIS cell. Searches uncovered a handgun, an airsoft rifle, phones, documents, computers, rings, and books associated with ISIS.[11]

Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai ordered police alertness raised to its maximum level and announced checkpoints on major roads.[2] Checkpoints were established on Road 65, the Wadi Ara Highway, and Road 4 at Hadera’s entrances.[12] Four reinforcement battalions were also to be sent to the Judea and Samaria Division to strengthen security at sensitive points, as part of the response to the Hadera attack and the preceding week’s deadly attacks.[2]

An indictment filed on April 29 charged Hassan Mahajna, 18, and Muhammad Ghassan Mahajna, 26, both of Umm al-Fahm, with failing to prevent the attack despite allegedly knowing that Ayman Ighbariah was planning one.[13] Hassan Mahajna was additionally charged with weapons offenses and attempting to use a weapon for terrorist purposes.[13] The indictment alleged that the defendants knew the attackers and that one had warned the other that Ayman was preparing an attack and lacked a gun.[14] These were criminal allegations, not findings of guilt.[13][14]

Hamas and Islamic Jihad praised the attack.[10] A Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs commentary records that Mansour Abbas condemned it on March 27 as “vile Daesh terror,” said it did not represent Arab society in Israel, offered condolences to the victims’ families, and wished the wounded a speedy recovery.[15] Commentator Abdel Bari Atwan approvingly called it the “Hadera operation” and said it had exposed Arab leaders who did not mention Palestine, referring to four Arab foreign ministers attending a summit in Israel.[16]

ISIS-affiliated elements circulated footage of the shooting to encourage further attacks.[17] One video, titled “The First Rain,” combined security-camera footage of the Hadera and Beersheba attacks with the voice of former ISIS spokesman Abu Mohammad al-Adnani praising the attackers.[17]

Israel later returned the attackers’ bodies for burial in Umm al-Fahm after their families accepted limits on funeral attendance and restrictions on banners, processions, and inciting calls.[6] Some sporadic martyrdom-related chanting was nevertheless reported.[6] The return of attackers’ bodies was debated within Israel’s security establishment, with differing positions on deterrence, bargaining leverage, and the legal grounds for retaining them.[6]

The Hadera shooting was the first attack in Israel claimed by ISIS since 2017.[3] ISIS publicized a responsibility claim and a video of the alleged attackers pledging allegiance, but such propaganda did not establish operational direction.[3][10] Israeli authorities later arrested suspects on suspicion of assisting the attackers or belonging to a local ISIS cell, while the Institute for National Security Studies assessed that the gunmen had no links to external elements, including ISIS, or guidance from them.[11][18] The institute said ISIS apparently exploited the attack for propaganda purposes.[18]

The attack was assessed as organized and planned, involving firearms, large quantities of ammunition, and the seizure of weapons from the two murdered officers.[18] The rapid intervention by the nearby undercover unit was assessed to have prevented further killing.[18] Investigators also considered whether the attackers might have intended to take hostages, but this remained an assessment rather than a confirmed element of their plan.[2]

An analysis published by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs argues that the attacks in Beersheba, Hadera, and Bnei Brak challenged Israelis’ sense of security because they occurred within pre-1967 Israel and three of the four perpetrators were Israeli Arab citizens.[19] The author further argues that the Hadera attackers’ ISIS affiliation surprised Israeli security services and that the organization probably did not order the attack, but exploited it through an incitement campaign.[19]