Twice as many women in Israel have been murdered with firearms since October 7, according to the Michal Sela Forum's 2025 impact report.
The forum was set up after Michal Sela was murdered by her husband in 2019, aiming to save the lives of the next Michal through prevention, prediction, and solutions.
Since the start of the Israel-Hamas War on October 7, 22 out of 71 gun violence victims in Israel have been women, the forum found, marking an over 100% increase compared to the same period before the war, when nine women were murdered with firearms.
While the majority of the murdered women come from within Arab society, six of the 22 female victims were Jewish, compared to just one in the period before the start of the war in Gaza.
The data also showed a record number of domestic murders in 2025, with 31 women and three children being killed by family members.
According to the breakdown published by the forum, the increase was not only in the number of murders committed but also in the methods used, noting that firearms were used in more than half (52%) of the murders, compared to less than a third in 2020, when the forum began monitoring.
Lili Ben Ami, the forum’s director general, is set to present data this week at the Knesset National Security Committee meeting on the firearm licensing reform led by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Ben Ami accused the committee of "evading national responsibility in the face of data that should shake the government's table.
Firearm licensing reforms
Since October 7, there has been a series of changes to gun control legislation, led by Ben-Gvir.
The relaxation of controls has led to the number of gun owners in Israel doubling, from 150,000 before the war to over 300,000 after it.
Data on how many murders were carried out by licensed gun owners and how many were using stolen or illegal weapons is not available to the public.
"Weapons save lives - there is no doubt about that, especially after the massacre of civilians in their homes on 7.10.23," the forum's position paper states. "However, it is important to ensure that weapons do not fall into the wrong hands in a way that could endanger the lives of innocent people.”
According to Ynet, Ben-Gvir refuted the idea that the licensing reforms had contributed to the increase in domestic murders with firearms, saying that only one of the 22 women murdered with guns since October 7 had been killed with a gun that was licensed through the reforms he led.