Bedouin near Rahat on 'Land Day'
Bedouin near Rahat on 'Land Day'Israel News photo: Flash 90

Bedouin violence against Magen David Adom (MDA) medics reached closer to urban areas Saturday night when an ambulance was stoned as medics tried to save lives in Rahat. One Bedouin woman died for lack of immediate treatment.

The MDA medics were forced to retreat under the barrage of rocks in Rahat, Israel’s largest Bedouin city, located several miles northwest of Be’er Sheva.

The ambulance was called to the scene after a large-scale fight broke out, leaving one woman unconscious and severely injured, two others moderately wounded and six more with light injuries.

The woman, age 57, eventually was taken to Soroka Medical Center in Be’er Sheva, where she died. The other injured victims also were treated at the Israeli hospital.

“Magen David severely condemns the attack on its medical team and ambulance that arrived to treat injured people and save their lives. We expect the city’s officials to bring to trial those responsible,” the emergency rescue service said in a statement.

Magen David medics often come under rock attacks in Arab areas in Jerusalem. Attacks near Israel’s urban center have become more frequent as Bedouins and Arabs, who hold Israeli citizenship, increasingly join an undercurrent of Islamic anti-Zionist ideology.