Israeli Soldiers Open Fire On Family In THE OCCUPIED West Bank
Courtesy of NBC News
By Sydney Johnson
Israeli soldiers killed a family of four, opening fire on them as they drove in the West Bank last week. The military put out a statement claiming a car accelerated toward them, which led to the shooting. The two surviving children of the family sustained near-fatal injuries.
Najah al-Subhi, a grandmother to this family, told The Associated Press the family was on their way to buy clothes for Eid al-Fitr, the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Despite the shooting being under investigation, it is unlikely much will come of it. There is “No effective mechanism exists to hold those responsible to account,” according to B’tselem: The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories.
Since the first attack on Iran, Israeli authorities have closed gates and checkpoints, greatly limiting any movement in the area. There have also been 109 documented cases of violence from Israeli settlers in the West Bank towards Palestinians, according to the human rights organization Yesh Din, since then.
The group has also claimed Israeli soldiers accused of harming Palestinians are rarely penalized and were indicted in fewer than 1% of cases based on 2,427 complaints alleging wrongdoing between 2016 and 2024.
“It's horrifying,” said Aniya Hunte, a first-year criminology student. “I don't see how this has been able to go on for so long. People do not see that [the Israelis'] objective is to wipe out the Palestinians, and they are succeeding.”
There have been 18 recorded deaths of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since the beginning of 2026, including eight confirmed to be by Israeli settlers, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The death toll since October 7, 2023, is over 70,000.
With the city of Rafah completely gone, and the citizens of the Gaza Strip facing constant bombings and air strikes, the West Bank is somehow the ‘safest’ place in Palestine.