Warning - this article contains a graphic description of a shooting.
In the few moments of silence after the shootings, before he was dragged from the family car, 12-year-old Khaled Bani Odeh thought he was the only member of his family left alive.
Seconds before, his parents and two youngest brothers had been shot dead through the windscreen by Israeli forces, as they drove home after a family shopping trip in the occupied West Bank. Among the dead was seven-year-old Othman - blind and disabled - killed while sitting on his mother's lap.
My mother cried out one last time before going quiet, Khaled said. My father recited the Shahada [the Islamic declaration of faith] as he died. When Israeli forces tried to drag his only surviving brother, Mustafa, from the car, Khaled tried to intervene, but they pulled him out instead and began questioning him.
The family of 37-year-old Ali Khaled Bani Odeh and his 35-year-old wife Waad had just returned from shopping in Nablus when the tragedy occurred. Relatives say Ali had recently returned home after working in Israel for six weeks, and his children begged him to take them out for shopping ahead of the Eid al-Fitr holiday.
As they drove home, the Israeli army's account stated that soldiers were in the area to arrest suspected offenders and claimed the family’s car accelerated towards them, prompting them to open fire. However, eyewitness accounts contradict this, stating the vehicle was stationary when shots were fired.
Witnesses have reported hearing no warnings or shots prior to the incident, with a nearby resident stating the family car had come to a complete stop before any shots were fired. The firing directly targeted the car. I just heard the woman in the car screaming, he said.
The ramifications of the shooting are significant, drawing attention to the rising tensions and violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, especially following the events of October 2023. Reports indicate a rising total in casualties, with at least 233 children killed in such incidents.
Khaled and his brother Mustafa, the only survivors, now face the heartbreaking reality of their loss as they navigate the aftermath of this tragic event.
