Tammun, West Bank — A late-night family trip home from shopping ended in tragedy when Israeli forces opened fire on a civilian car in the village of Tammun, killing two parents and two of their young children, according to relatives and witnesses.
The victims — 37-year-old Ali Khaled Bani Odeh, his wife Waad, 35, and two of their sons — were returning from a shopping outing in Nablus ahead of the upcoming Eid al-Fitr celebrations when their vehicle was struck by heavy gunfire shortly after midnight on Saturday.
Inside the car were the couple’s four sons: Khaled, 12; Mustafa, 8; Othman, 6; and Mohammed, a kindergarten pupil. Two of the boys survived the attack but were left traumatized and injured.
Khaled, the eldest surviving child, recounted the terrifying moments as gunfire shattered the windshield of the family vehicle.
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“In the few seconds of silence after the shooting, I thought I was the only one left alive,” he said. “My mother cried out once before going quiet. My father recited the Shahada before he died.”
Among those killed was six-year-old Othman, who relatives say was blind and disabled. He was sitting on his mother’s lap when the bullets struck.
The family had been minutes away from their home in Tammun, near Tubas, after an evening of shopping and dinner in Nablus. Ali Bani Odeh had only recently returned to the village after spending six weeks working at a construction site inside Israel, relatives said. His children had persuaded him to take them to Nablus to buy items for the Eid holiday.
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According to the Israel Defense Forces, soldiers and Border Police units were operating in Tammun that night to arrest suspects believed to be involved in attacks against Israeli security forces. In a statement, the military said the family car “accelerated toward the forces, who sensed danger and responded by shooting.”
However, an eyewitness who lives along the road where the incident occurred disputed the army’s account. Speaking anonymously for safety reasons, he said he watched the car turn into the street and come to a complete stop before any shots were fired.
“There were no warnings and no warning shots,” the resident said. “The firing directly targeted the car. I heard the woman screaming, and the children crying.”
Emergency responders from the Palestine Red Crescent Society described the aftermath as unusually severe. Ambulance worker Hassan Fuqoha said he found bullet casings scattered around the vehicle.
“I saw many casings everywhere around the car,” he said. “It was very heavy fire directed at the vehicle. It’s not normal.”
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Residents later reported finding more than 50 shell casings from assault rifles commonly used by Israeli forces, which were handed over to authorities.
The two surviving children were pulled from the car during the chaos. Mustafa suffered facial injuries from shattered glass and shrapnel. Their grandmother, Najah Bani Odeh, said the boy will require surgery.
“They were just coming home,” she said, sitting among mourners at the family house. “The children were singing and laughing in the car. Then suddenly they were shot.”
The grandmother said the family had no idea that Israeli forces were conducting a military operation in the village that night.
The incident has drawn criticism even within Israel. Opposition leader Yair Lapid said the government should apologize for the deaths of children.
“A young boy with special needs should not die in the wars of adults,” Lapid said.
The Israeli military has said the shooting is under investigation.
The tragedy has also renewed attention on the rising violence in the West Bank since the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, which dramatically escalated tensions across the region.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, more than 1,000 Palestinians — including at least 233 children — have been killed in the West Bank between October 2023 and March 2026. During roughly the same period, 19 Israeli civilians and 23 Israeli security personnel were killed in the territory.
For the Bani Odeh family, however, the statistics offer little comfort. Their home in Tammun is now filled with mourners grieving a night that began with laughter and anticipation for Eid — and ended in devastating loss.
