In an incident that has shocked human rights groups, Israeli police killed two young Palestinian brothers and their parents in the occupied West Bank, shooting all four in the head and face as the family returned from a Ramadan shopping trip.
Funeral prayers were held in the town of Tamun, north of Tubas, West Bank, over the weekend for the family who were murdered after Israeli soldiers opened fire on their car while they were returning from the city of Nablus, where they had gone to buy Eid al-Fitr clothes for their children ahead of the upcoming holiday. Hundreds of Palestinians attended the funeral ceremony, carrying the coffins wrapped in flags to the town cemetery.
Mohammed, five, Othman, seven, who was blind and had special needs, their mother Waad Bani Odeh, 35, and father Ali Bani Odeh, 37, were driving through their hometown of Tamoun late on Saturday when Israeli forces opened fire.
The killings came hours after Israeli settlers had shot and killed Amir Moatasem Odeh, 28, in Qusra south of Nablus. The attackers also stabbed his father, Moatasem Awda, who was taken to the hospital in serious condition.
There has been a surge of Israeli violence against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank since Israel and the US launched their war on Iran at the end of February.
Over two weeks, Israeli settlers have shot six civilians dead during invasions of Palestinian olive groves, villages, and grazing land, and one man died after inhaling military-grade teargas used by the Israeli army.
The attack on the Bani Odeh family brought the number of Palestinians killed to 11. Two brothers survived the shooting. Khaled, 11, the oldest of the siblings, said he had heard his mother crying and his father praying before they died. After the gunfire stopped, Israeli border police dragged him out of the wreckage, taunted him about the murders of his family, and attacked him. One of the Israelis said, “We killed dogs”, he told Reuters.
The family had been in the nearby city of Nablus to buy clothes for the upcoming Eid festival, which marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Families often stay up late in a month when adults fast during daylight hours.
“What did this family do? They went to buy Eid necessities, and to put a smile on those children’s faces,” said Mansour Abu Islam, a neighbour and cousin of Ali. “This is clear evidence that Palestinian lives have no value.”
The gunmen were an undercover unit who were not in uniform and were driving a car with Palestinian license plates, Abu Islam said.
Israeli forces opened fire without warning, Khaled said in an interview from the hospital. After the shooting, an Israeli asked him who had been in the car. “I said: ‘My father, my mother, my three brothers, and me’. He said: You are lying,’ and then they started beating and kicking me.”
All four victims were shot in the head and face, and Ali, who was driving, was also shot in the chest and left hand, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said.
Israeli forces initially prevented ambulances from reaching the scene, the Palestinian Red Crescent said in a statement. The military later towed the family car away, according to witness accounts and video shared on social media.
A spokesperson for the police said the Bani Odeh family had been killed during a joint operation with the Israeli military. Forces opened fire on the vehicle when they “perceived an immediate threat” after it accelerated, the statement said.
Asked what threat was posed by four young children and their unarmed parents, or whether the shooting violated Israeli rules of engagement, the police and military declined to comment.
The police and military were in the area to “arrest wanted suspects believed to be involved in terrorist activity,” the statement said. “The circumstances of the incident are under review by the relevant authorities.”
The Israeli military has command responsibility for all forces operating in occupied Palestine. A spokesperson said border police killed the Bani Odeh family and declined to comment further, referring all questions to the police. -AA