Inmate killed in northern Israel after leaving prison as part of rehabilitation program

Eyal Heib, a 37-year-old inmate serving an 18-year sentence for manslaughter, was shot dead on Friday morning while heading to work from prison as part of a rehabilitation program. He became the 20th victim of a feud between two branches of the Hasarma family. Police launched an investigation.

A 37-year-old inmate, Eyal Heib, was shot dead on Friday morning near the Nahal Tzalmon interchange on Highway 65 while walking to a bus stop to go to his factory job, as part of a prison rehabilitation program. Heib was serving an 18-year sentence for a 2014 manslaughter conviction and was due to return to prison by public transportation at the end of the workday. A vehicle pulled up beside him and shots were fired; he was critically wounded and pronounced dead at the scene. Magen David Adom received the report at 6:41 a.m. and found him unconscious with penetrating wounds. The killing was criminally motivated and is the 20th death in a longstanding feud between two branches of the Hasarma family from Ba'ana. Heib had been convicted of killing Ali Hasarma in 2014 for NIS 150,000. The feud began in 2014 after a teenage dispute and had appeared to subside since 2023. His killing raised concerns the feud could reignite. Separately, two others were killed in shootings in northern Israel on Thursday night, and seven others were wounded in incidents of violence in the north and center.