A Palestinian father, mother, and two of their young children were killed March 15 when Israeli forces opened fire on their vehicle after perceiving it as a threat in the village of Tammun in the occupied West Bank.
Ali Khaled Bani Odeh, 37, his wife Waad, 35, and two of their sons, aged 5 and 7, were killed in the shooting, Reuters reported. Two other children in the car survived with injuries.
The Israeli military said its forces had been operating in Tammun to arrest Palestinians suspected of “terrorist” activity against Israeli security forces.
According to the military statement, Israeli forces acted according to what they deemed an immediate threat. The circumstances of the incident are reportedly under review.
"During the operation, a vehicle accelerated toward the forces, who perceived an immediate threat to their safety and responded with gunfire. As a result, four Palestinians who were in the vehicle were killed,” the statement read.
One of the surviving children, 12-year-old Khaled, described the moment the family’s car was struck by gunfire.
"We came under direct fire,” he said, “we didn't know the source. Everyone in the car was martyred, except my brother Mustafa and me.”
The outlet also noted that Palestinian health officials said that Israeli operations and airstrikes killed at least 16 people across the territory.
Earlier today, officials in Gaza said an airstrike killed three members of another family, a man, his pregnant wife, and their son, in the Nuseirat area of the central Gaza Strip.
Israeli authorities did not immediately comment on the strike, according to Reuters.
The killings come amid rising violence across the West Bank. As Zeale News previously reported, international officials and human rights groups have warned of increasing attacks affecting Palestinian communities in recent weeks as the wider regional conflict continues.
While Israeli attacks in Gaza declined in the days following U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran Feb. 28, residents and analysts say the violence has since begun to rise again, the outlet reported.
According to Reuters, at least 36 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the onset of the Iran war.