Be'er Sheva Mayor Ruvik Danilovich on Monday spoke at a press conference about the Sunday evening shooting and violent conflict at the city's Soroka Medical Center.
In the incident, which involved two families from the Bedouin Arab city of Rahat, two of the participants in the brawl were injured and live ammunition was fired. So far, 19 people have been arrested.
"We are in a crisis," Danilovich said. "It's a time of national emergency. We need to call it by its name. I always display statesmanship. But this is a real war - on the democracy which belongs to all of us. There is civilian terror here, which is slowly, slowly, taking over the country. It's happening everywhere."
"I expected the Prime Minister and Public Security Minister to be here this morning," he added. "What happened yesterday was a loss of control by the State of Israel. What is happening in our country? Where is the governance?"
Israel Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai spoke with Dr. Shlomi Codish, Director General of Soroka Medical Center, emphasizing that the police take very seriously all incidents of violence and shooting, especially those which occur in public institutions.
"The job of hospitals and medical staff is to save lives, and we will not allow harm to either the institution or the employees', patients', or visitors' sense of security," Shabtai said.
Nineteen people were arrested during Sunday evening's mass brawl, which forced the hospital to close its doors and move to its emergency protocols for half an hour.
Israel Police are continuing to investigate the incident, and said that additional arrests are expected.