The same Palestinian family of four, including two boys aged 5 and 7, were shot dead by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank as they went for a late-night drive to break their Ramadan fast, the Palestinian Authority reported.
The Israeli military said the soldiers opened fire because they felt threatened by the movement of the family’s car. This is the latest incident in a growing number of fatal killings of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers or Israeli settlers in the occupied Palestinian territories.
One of the two surviving boys, 11-year-old Khalid Bani Odeh, said Ali Bani Odeh, 37, and his wife Waed Bani Odeh, 35, were driving home from the city of Nablus with their four young sons in their car when they were attacked by gunfire.
“Suddenly, we heard gunfire directly at us. We didn’t know where it came from,” Khaled told a Palestinian journalist who interviewed him at the hospital and later shared the interview with CNN.
“My father held up his fingers while reciting the shahada (the Islamic declaration of faith that Muslims recite when facing death). My mother was screaming, but then she fell silent.”
Footage from the aftermath of the shooting shows what appears to be bullets and blood stains on the road.
“I tried to hand over my brother Muhammad, but I couldn’t,” Khaled said, adding: “There is no one left except me and my brother Mustafa.”
In addition to 5-year-old Mohammed, 7-year-old Osman was also killed in the shooting.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told CNN that “the circumstances of the incident are being investigated by the relevant authorities.”
“The vehicle accelerated towards the troops. The troops felt threatened and responded by opening fire,” the military said in a statement. “As a result, the four Palestinians in the vehicle were killed.” Surveillance camera footage of the incident that could help determine the actual movements of the vehicle has not yet been released, and the IDF has not provided the video.
A video released shows the family’s car, with its windshield shattered, being towed away from the scene by an Israeli military vehicle. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society told CNN that Palestinian emergency workers were also prevented from entering the scene to provide medical care. An hour later, medical workers at a local hospital received the four murdered family members.
Israel has significantly escalated its military activities in the occupied West Bank since 2023, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing government pushes to expand Jewish settlements and strengthen Israel’s control over the land. Israeli settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal under international law.
At the same time, Israeli settlers have also stepped up attacks on Palestinians and their property, and Israeli authorities have carried out regular crackdowns on Palestinian movement within the territory. Israeli human rights group B’Tselem accused Israel of using “a cover for war with Iran” to further accelerate what it called “ethnic cleansing” of the West Bank.
Masked Israeli settlers shot dead 28-year-old Palestinian Amir Oudeh in another attack this weekend, launching two attacks on the village of Khusra on Saturday afternoon, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health and activist Sumud Network.
The dead man’s father, Moassem Oudeh, was shot in the leg as he tried to help his son, then the settlers hit him on the head with a wooden stick and stabbed him multiple times in different parts of his body, Sumud told CNN.
After the shooting, Israeli forces raided the village and assaulted residents, Sumud activists said, “punishing[the villagers]by making them the targets of lynching by armed militias.”
In response to questions from CNN, the Israeli military confirmed the attack and said it “strongly condemns such incidents that harm innocent civilians,” adding that an investigation had been launched by the Israeli Police and the Israel Security Service.
The attack reflects a “pattern of complete disregard for Palestinian lives,” the head of the UN human rights office in the occupied Palestinian territories warned on Sunday. “Impunity increases the suffering of Palestinians by increasing killings, displacement and deprivation across the occupied territories,” Addis Sungei said in a statement.
