From the Joy of Eid to the Funeral of the Ali Bani Odeh Family: This is How the Occupation Transforms the Moments of Palestinians

SadaNews - In Palestine, where continuous pain and renewed suffering exist, the colors of joy for children turn into a repugnant red blood that kills all meanings of childhood. Time stops at a moment that was supposed to be a beautiful memory in the minds of a family trying to bring joy to their children amid the tragic conditions in the West Bank. After midnight on Sunday, laughter resonated from the vehicle of Ali Bani Odeh, who took his four children, Othman, Mohammed, Mustafa, and Khaled, along with his wife, Waad, to buy Eid clothes. On their way back from Nablus to their warm home in Tamoun, Toubas district, an Israeli force showered their vehicle with bullets, resulting in the parents and Othman, 7 years old, and Mohammed, 5 years old, being killed before they could lay out their new clothes for the anticipated day, as is customary for children. The two brothers, Mustafa, 8 years old, and Khaled, 11 years old, were injured by bullet shrapnel in the head, becoming witnesses to one of the horrific massacres happening against Palestinian citizens, sometimes at the hands of the occupation army and sometimes at the hands of its settlers. The elder brother Khaled, aged 11, recounts the details of what happened with eyes filled with questions, as if they were conveying disbelief at what occurred, in a trembling voice: "We were coming back from the city of Nablus after finishing buying Eid clothes, and suddenly gunfire started directly at us; we didn’t know the source. Everyone in the car was killed except for me and my brother Mustafa." Khaled added: "The soldiers assaulted me, and they tried to hit my brother Mustafa, but when I stopped them, they threw me to the ground and continued beating me," noting that he heard the soldiers saying, "We killed dogs." "Do you love your father and mother?" This was a question Khaled asked one of the soldiers, who answered yes, and then he immediately followed up with the next question, "Why did you kill my father and mother?" The soldier continued the assault on the body of a child who has not yet matured. Khaled added: "The last thing I heard from my father was his شهادته (testimony of faith); he uttered the two testimonies and was martyred, and my mother said, 'It’s over,' and I didn’t hear their voices after that." A witness to the crime said: "The family massacre took place directly in front of my house, and the gunfire was heavy and direct at the vehicle, where the Israeli special forces fired more than 50 bullets in one go at the car," explaining that "the Israeli army prevented the Red Crescent crews from reaching the injured at the time and forced them to leave the area." Later, the bodies of the martyrs were allowed to be retrieved for their funeral in their town of Tamoun. According to the people of Tamoun, Ali Bani Odeh was known for his kindness and morals among the people and was an example of a simple person striving with his daily efforts to provide a decent life for his family. According to Shirin Observatory, since the beginning of this year, 35 martyrs, including 5 children, two women, and an elderly person, have been killed by the occupation and its settlers. The Palestinian foreign ministry described the incident as "a horrific and shocking massacre, not an isolated incident, but part of a comprehensive and systematic aggression aimed at the extermination and displacement of the Palestinian people," confirming that it will pursue the killers in all international forums. In an attempt to justify the crime, the spokespersons for the Israeli army and police issued a joint statement saying, "During a field operation by security forces in the village of Tamoun to arrest wanted persons, a vehicle attempted to approach the forces, which posed a threat, and the forces responded with gunfire. As a result, four Palestinians who were inside the vehicle were killed, and the circumstances of the incident are under investigation by the relevant authorities." Meanwhile, Fatah Movement warned of the dangers of ongoing bloody escalation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, whether through the army or its settlers, calling on Palestinians to be vigilant in the face of the occupation and settlers’ assaults and to engage in popular protection committees to defend villages and residential communities, and to escalate popular resistance in defense of land and existence until the occupation is removed. Hamas and Islamic Jihad movements stated that the complete response to the crime necessitates escalating confrontation.