At least 12 Palestinians were killed in separate Israeli attacks across the occupied West Bank during the last several days, the worst of which claimed the lives of four members of the same family.
The massacre of the Bani Odeh family
The early hours of Sunday, March 15, saw the killing of two Palestinian children and their parents by Israeli special forces, in the village of Tammun, in the northern West Bank governorate of Tubas.
The victims were identified as Ali Bani Odeh (37), his wife Wa’ed (35), and their children Othman (7) and Mohammad (5), who were traveling in the same car at the time of the attack.
Ali’s other two sons Khaled (12) and Mustafa (8) were also with them in the vehicle, but survived the attack and sustained some injuries.
According to Khaled’s testimony, he and Mustafa were also subjected to physical and verbal abuse by the Israeli forces after the attack.
“I am Khaled Bani Odeh, and I am 12-years-old. We were on our way back home, returning from Nablus. After we left Al-Nabulsi Restaurant, gunfire targeted us suddenly, but we did not recognize from which direction it was coming. Everyone in the car got martyred except my brother Mustafa and I,” the grief-stricken boy said.
“I was dragged out [of the car] by a soldier, they beat me then they headed towards my brother Mustafa to drag him and tried to beat him too. However, I stood in front of them, so they pushed me to the floor and began to kick me on my back with their boots,” he added.
“He said: we have just killed some dogs,” Khaled noted, citing one of the Israeli personnel.
The boy mentioned in another testimony that he asked one of the Arab-speaking soldiers whether he loves his parents or not, and when he responded with yes, Khaled wondered: “why did you kill my parents then?” The soldier’s answer to the question was a punch in the child’s face.
Meanwhile, the young Mustafa gave the same account, clarifying that he and Khaled sustained injuries caused by shrapnel in different parts of their bodies, one of which hit his head.
Eight other people, including two children, were killed across the West Bank
The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) announced in the early hours of Tuesday, March 17, that it killed two Palestinians in Sinjil town, northeast of Ramallah, in the central occupied West Bank.
The IOF alleged that it opened fire on the two Palestinians because they were hurling rocks on their military patrol. The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reported that it was prevented from reaching others who were injured in the gunfire.
Although the IOF claimed that the victims were adults, local media outlets said that they were both 16-years-old and that they were identified as Fathi Sahouri and Saleem Foqahaa.
On Saturday, March 14, Ameer Odeh (25) was killed and two other people were injured in a violent attack waged by illegal Israeli settlers on Qusra town, in the northern governorate of Nablus.
Ma’moun Rashdan (25) and Mohammad Rashdan (24) were also killed by the IOF, two days earlier, near Za’atra checkpoint south of the governorate.
On Sunday, March 8, illegal Israeli colonists launched an armed attack on Abu Falah town east of Ramallah, killing three Palestinian men and injuring five others.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health revealed the identity of those killed as Thaer Hamayel (24), Fare’i Hamayel (57), and Mohammad Murrah (55).
It is worth noting that Israeli violence has drastically escalated across the occupied West Bank, concurrent with the ongoing US-Israeli aggression on Iran, a strategy that was implemented by Israel during its previous 12-day war against the Islamic republic last June.
Read more: Israel escalates attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank
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