Israeli police arrest 17-year-old over deadly car blast

Israeli police said on Friday they had arrested a 17-year-old in connection with a vehicle explosion in the central city of Ramla on Thursday that left four people dead.

Police said on Thursday that they suspected the explosion to be linked to “a criminal conflict between crime families in the Arab neighborhood” of the mixed city.

A statement on Friday from police in central Israel said they had “just arrested, following an accelerated investigation and covert operations, a 17-year-old minor, a resident of Ramla, on suspicion of involvement in the tragic incident in which four residents of the city were killed yesterday.”

The statement did not provide more information about the circumstances of the arrest.

Israeli media listed the four dead in the blast as a 50-year-old woman, her 8-year-old daughter, a 10-year-old relative of theirs and a 24-year-old woman.

Israel’s emergency medical service Magen David Adom said on Thursday that the vehicle “exploded while parked on the sidewalk near a store and residential building” in Ramla.

“As a result of the explosion, several passersby were injured by the blast and shrapnel,” rescue worker Benny Cohen said in a statement.

“The burning car was parked next to the store entrance, which prevented people inside the store from getting out.”

Arab communities in Israel have long complained of violence connected to organized crime.

Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir visited the site of the explosion in Ramla on Thursday and said police would “continue to fight this crime with all the tools at its disposal.”