Police opened an investigation early Sunday morning into a flash grenade thrown at a building under-construction in Hadera, reported to be a new location of the sushi restaurant chain Japanika, according to Israeli media.
No injuries have been reported, police said, adding that the incident is criminal.
At around 4:20 a.m., a flash grenade was thrown at the commercial part of the new Aura residential complex on Herbert Samuel Street in Hadera. While the residential complex is mostly inhabited, businesses have yet to open and are mostly still under construction.
In the northwestern section of the complex, damage was caused to a storefront that is under construction bearing Japanika signs. Notably, a second storefront with Japanika signs is located in the northeastern part of the complex and was not damaged.
The incident is the most recent in a string of attacks against branches of the Japanika chain, owned by businessman and Beitar Jerusalem owner Barak Abramov.
Attacks part of escalating conflict between crime families
Over the course of several days, grenades were thrown, a pipe bomb was set off, and shots were fired at the chain's branches in Netanya, Afula, Herzliya, Givatayim, Kiryat Ono, and Ramat Gan, with only property damage reported.
Police are investigating a suspicion that the attacks are part of an escalation in the conflict between the Musli and Jarushi criminal organizations.
According to sources familiar with the matter, Abramov, who is not a suspect in the case, is currently perceived as being affiliated with elements in the Jarushi family, and therefore the chain's branches have become targets of elements affiliated with the Musli organization.
The background to the conflict is, according to estimates, a dispute over tens of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency.
Miriam Sela-Eitam contributed to this report.