Ali and Waad Bani Odeh’s four children were showing off the new clothes they had just bought for the upcoming Eid celebrations as their parents drove home from Nablus in the northern West Bank to their house in the town of Tammun, south of Tubas.
The children joyfully described the colours and styles of their outfits to their visually impaired brother, Othman. Ali glanced back at his children and smiled at his wife, sharing a rare moment together, as his work often kept him away from his family.
It was a perfect Saturday evening for the Palestinian family, violently interrupted when undercover Israeli special forces suddenly peppered the car with bullets, killing the parents and two of their children.
Ali, 37, Waad, 35, and their children, Mohammad and Othman, aged five and seven respectively, were each shot in the head. Only Mustafa, eight, and Khaled, 12, survived, though they sustained shrapnel wounds to the face and head.
The Israeli forces, travelling in a civilian car, opened fire as soon as Ali’s vehicle reached the western part of Tammun.
Soldiers then approached the car, opened the doors and found the two children still alive. They dragged them out of the vehicle.
Khaled told reporters that soldiers ordered them to lie on the ground in the cold and rain while they were questioned. They were then made to stand against a wall with their hands raised and searched.
Mustafa, frightened and in shock, asked to go to the toilet, so a soldier took him to another location. On the way, Mustafa recounted, the soldier opened the car doors again and forced him to look at the bodies of his bleeding family before laughing.
“They kept us with them and ordered us to remain still after searching us. They beat us, kicked us and cursed and laughed at us,” Khaled said.
"They asked where we had been, and I told them we had gone to Nablus to buy Eid clothes. They accused me of lying and beat me.
“Then I gathered the courage to ask one of the soldiers, ‘Do you love your mother and father?’ He said, ‘Of course.’ I asked, ‘Then why did you kill mine?’ He punched me in the face.”
I saw a news article over the weekend of Israel saying Iran is targeting civilians and how it was a war crime
For Israel to come out and say that while doing this…
Every accusation Israel makes is something they are doing themselves.
This is horrible. This sounds like the stories that were told about what happened in concentration camps, where people were treated without any respect, and with uttermost cruelty.
I hope those people will be paying for their cruelty.
Israel needs to be nuked.
