These soldiers killed 4 members of the Odeh family, then beat and kicked an 11-year-old child who had just witnessed the murder of his parents and two siblings. And our government wants us to bow to the Israeli government and respect the IDF. Never.
Ali and Waed Bani Odeh were driving home from Nablus with their four young sons late Saturday night. The family had been out buying new clothes for Eid al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of Ramadan. They never made it home.
Israeli soldiers opened fire on the family’s car in the town of Tammun in the northern occupied West Bank, killing Ali, 37, his wife Waed, 35, and two of their children — Mohammed, 5, and Othman, 7.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said all four were shot in the head or face.
Two surviving brothers, 11-year-old Khaled and his brother Mustafa, were left with shrapnel wounds to the head and eye.
Khaled, speaking to journalists from his hospital bed, described the moment the shooting started. He said the gunfire came without warning.
His father began reciting the shahada — the Islamic declaration of faith spoken when facing death — and raised his finger.
His mother screamed and then went silent. Khaled said he tried to turn his brother Mohammed over but couldn’t.
“There is no one left other than me and my brother Mustafa,” the boy said.
Israel Claims the Car Was a Threat
The Israeli military and police said in a joint statement that soldiers opened fire because a vehicle accelerated toward them while they were pursuing suspects accused of “terrorist activity.” (Sounds a lot like the narrative we heard from DHS following the Renee Good shooting in Minnesota.)
The IDF said the incident is under investigation (which is what they always say, but never follow through with or hold anyone accountable) but has not provided any video evidence to support its claim.
Footage from the scene shows the family’s car with its windshield shattered being towed away by an Israeli military vehicle, with bullets and apparent bloodstains spread across the road.
The Palestinian Red Crescent accused Israel of blocking ambulances from reaching the scene. Paramedics say they were prevented from entering the area to provide medical care. An hour after the shooting, hospital workers received the four bodies.
On February 25, 2026, IDF soldiers blocked ambulances after they shot a 14-year-old Palestinian boy. They left him lying there, bleeding, for at least 45 minutes.
The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem said the car was riddled with bullets and that Israeli forces subjected one of the wounded surviving children to a violent interrogation.
B’Tselem has been documenting what it describes as Israel using the cover of the ongoing war with Iran to accelerate the ethnic cleansing of the West Bank.
A Pattern of Killings With Almost No Accountability
The Odeh family’s killing is part of a grim pattern. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has recorded 18 Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank since the start of 2026 alone, with eight of those deaths caused by Israeli settlers.
The human rights group Yesh Din has documented 109 incidents of settler violence across dozens of Palestinian communities since the Iran war began on February 28.
Yesh Din’s data also underscores the near-total lack of accountability in these cases. Based on 2,427 complaints filed between 2016 and 2024 alleging wrongdoing by Israeli soldiers against Palestinians, fewer than one percent resulted in indictments.
In a separate attack the same weekend, masked Israeli settlers shot and killed 28-year-old Amir Oudeh in the village of Qusra. His father was shot in the leg while rushing to help his son, then beaten with a wooden club and stabbed multiple times.
After the killing, Israeli military forces raided the village and attacked its residents — effectively punishing the victims of the settler assault.
Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN’s human rights office in the occupied Palestinian territories, called the attacks part of a pattern of complete disregard for Palestinian lives.
He warned that impunity is driving more killings, more displacement, and more suffering across the occupied territory.
Life Under Occupation in Tammun
Tammun’s mayor, Sameer Basharat, said the family’s car was shot in the center of town, where the Israeli army maintains a daily military presence. The town has been under sustained military control for more than a year, since Israel launched a major offensive across parts of the northern West Bank in 2025.
Beyond the violence, Basharat described how residents have been evicted from their homes and denied access to farmland.
Israel has been seizing land in preparation for a new fence that would divide the Jordan Valley, further fragmenting Palestinian territory.
Tammun faces frequent raids and road closures that have disrupted daily life and livelihoods.
Since the U.S.-Israel attack on Iran began on February 28, Israeli authorities have also tightened their grip across the wider West Bank, intermittently closing hundreds of gates and checkpoints used by residents, ambulances, and commercial vehicles.
The Red Crescent has reported that the restrictions have made emergency response significantly more difficult — a reality that played out in real time when paramedics were blocked from reaching the Odeh family.
The people of Tammun spent Sunday in mourning. Thousands attended the funeral, where a man was photographed carrying five-year-old Mohammed’s small body.
It was an image that captured, in a single frame, the cost of an occupation that kills families on their way home from buying holiday clothes for their children.
