Police charge three alleged hit squad members with murder, extortion in northern Israel

An indictment has been filed against three individuals accused of being members of a hit squad affiliated with a northern Israeli crime organization. Prosecutors allege Ayman Ibrahim, 43, Said Maddah, 28, and Ronen Araida, 19, were involved in the June murders of contractor Marwan Abu Shahin, 52, and bystander Saada Saada, 56. Araida faces an additional charge of attempted murder in Yarka.

Police received reports of a shooting in Bukata on June 19, where Abu Shahin, identified as the intended target, and Saada were killed. Investigators discovered that the hit squad allegedly organized the killing beforehand. The indictment states the defendants rented a cabin in Bukata the day before the murder and arrived in vehicles purchased from a car lot in Usfiya.

During an undercover investigation, police arrested several suspects and seized vehicles, including the one allegedly used in the murder, which was found hidden in Kiryat Shmona. However, the main suspect evaded capture for weeks. On July 5, detectives attempting to locate this suspect in Yarka spotted a masked man leaving a business after shooting an employee. They arrested the gunman, later identified as Ronen Araida, who was the primary suspect in the Bukata murders.

This murder followed an extortion case involving Abu Shahin several months prior. Shots were fired at the contractor's home on December 25, 2025, after he allegedly refused extortion demands. An investigation by the Kinneret Subdistrict crime-fighting unit found that a group claiming affiliation with a crime organization asserted that Abu Shahin's business debt had ballooned from approximately NIS 1.8 million to NIS 3.2 million. Hundreds of thousands of shekels and Abu Shahin's private vehicle were allegedly extorted from him under threat. Prosecutors later indicted 10 people in connection with this case, with Abu Shahin listed on the prosecution's witness list.