A Palestinian family was killed by Israeli forces in the early hours of Saturday in the Tammun village near the occupied West Bank.
Palestinian health authorities said Ali Khaled Bani Odeh, 37, his 35-year-old wife Waad, and two of their sons, aged five and seven, died after being shot in the head, while two of their other children were injured. Their 12-year-old son, Khaled, and Mustafa, 8, were the only ones left alive.
Mustafa during a funeral of his family
Photo Credit: REUTERS
“My mother cried out one last time before going quiet,” Khaled told the BBC of their deaths. “My father recited the Shahada [the Islamic declaration of faith] as he died.”
His seven-year-old brother Othman, who was blind and disabled, was killed while sitting on their mother's lap. Another boy, Mohammed, who was in kindergarten, was sitting between his parents when they opened fire on them.
Photo Credit: REUTERS
“In the few moments of silence after the shootings… I thought I was the only member of my family left alive,” Khaled said.
The family was returning home from a shopping trip in Nablus ahead of the Eid al-Fitr holiday.
The Israeli army said that soldiers and Border Police were operating in Tammun to arrest suspects and claimed the family's car "accelerated towards the forces, who sensed danger and responded by shooting."
A resident who saw the shooting said the car stopped before any shots were fired. "No, nothing", he said regarding warnings. "The firing directly targeted the car. I just heard the woman in the car screaming. The little kids were crying before they were killed."
Mustafa got cuts near his eye from the glass of a window shattered by the shooting. His grandmother, Najah Bani Odeh, said, “He needs an operation to remove it.”
Funeral of the Palestinian family
Photo Credit: REUTERS
Hassan Fuqoha, a Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance worker, said he saw a lot of bullet casings everywhere around the car. “It was very heavy fire, directly at the car; it's not normal.”
The Israeli assault in Gaza is well into its third year. Continuous bombardment in the narrow strip has killed over 72,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children. A fragile US-brokered ceasefire hangs by a thread.
“A settler over there goes on a rampage, hurting men, women and children, and we only defend ourselves by hurling stones,” Najah Bani Odeh said. "They want to strip us of our lands. They are now building walls around the lands they have seized and firing at will at anyone approaching."
Earlier, Hind Rajab, a 5‑year‑old Palestinian girl, was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza. The car she was in was hit by over 335 bullets.
