Open-Fire Policy
On 3 October 2024, at around 10:00 P.M., an Israeli fighter jet bombed a three-story residential building in the heart of Tulkarm Refugee Camp. Three missiles hit the building, destroying the café and apartment on the ground floor and killing everyone inside them. ‘Ali Khreiwish, 24, a neighborhood resident, said in his testimony:“I started running to the building, along with a lot of other guys from the camp. […] we tried to put out the fire and look for survivors. I was shocked when things became clearer. The apartment of Saja Khreiwish, a relative of mine, which is right next to the café, was reduced to rubble. There were torn limbs all around me, severed arms, legs and heads of guys. What hurt most was seeing the head of the little boy Karam severed from his body. Residents and paramedics began evacuating the victims together. The explosions from the three missiles fired by an Israeli plane tore apart most of the bodies. The body parts of the guys who were in the café and in the apartment next door were taken to the hospitals in cardboard boxes. During the evacuation, we found the body of a guy thrown by the explosion, that landed on the electrical and phone cables outside the café.”For details about the incident and the full testimoniesSince 7 October 2023, Israel has been frequently bombing refugee camps and cities in the northern West Bank. B’Tselem documented 69 airstrikes, which killed 261 people, including at least 41 minors, from that day to 8 March 2025. Some were carried out by fighter jets for the first time since the second intifada. In stark contrast, 14 people were killed by airstrikes in the West Bank in the preceding 18 years (from 2005 to 7 October 2023).The airstrikes in the West Bank are part of a broader conceptual and operational shift. In the first weeks after the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023, many Israeli politicians stressed that the war Israel had launched was not confined to Gaza but was directed at all Palestinians living under the Israeli regime. President, Isaac Herzog spoke about an “entire nation” responsible for Hamas’ crimes, while Finance Minister and Additional Minister in the Ministry of Defense Bezalel Smotrich clarified he saw “no difference between Hamas and the ‘Palestinian people’ [...] We will fight them in the Judea and Samaria Area, too.” Later, various politicians borrowed terms from the military discourse on Gaza to explain the level of action they deemed necessary in the West Bank. Minister of Defense Israel Katz demanded the military match its activities in the West Bank to those in Gaza, while Bezalel Smotrich said that “Funduq, Nablus and Jenin should look like Jabalya.” These statements received an official seal approval when the government added “increasing offensive activity” in the West Bank to its “war objectives” document in January 2025 – a decision for which Smotrich took credit. According to recent statements by Defense Minister Katz, the massive, deadly raids on Palestinian communities in the northern West Bank are set to continue and expand to the entire West Bank.The airstrikes, which the military stated were aimed at armed operatives in the camps, targeted some of the most densely populated areas in the West Bank, putting the civilian population in grave danger. They were often carried out during, or around the same time as, a ground invasion. Doctors Without Borders reported that the military’s siege on the raided areas and massive destruction left behind continually hindered access to medical treatment for the sick and wounded.During a raid on Tammun on 8 January 2025, an Israeli aircraft fired a missile that killed three cousins, two of them children, near their home: Adam Bsharat, 23, Hamzah Bsharat, 10, and Rida Bsharat, 8. An investigation released by the military stated the young man and two children had been identified as individuals who planted IEDs based on intelligence information, but no IEDs were ultimately found in the area. Fidaa Bsharat, 41, a mother of five including eight-year-old Rida, said in her testimony:“I kept on holding my son, but I knew he was dead. Soon after, the soldiers brought blankets from ‘Abla’s house and covered the three bodies. They didn’t try to give them first aid or even check them. It was clear they were dead. They took them away on stretchers. […] Rida was our only son. He was born after four daughters. He was the prince of his class and our spoiled boy. He always wanted us to visit Jerusalem, but we couldn’t because of the situation. He used to say to me: “I’ll buy a car and take you to Jerusalem and buy you anything you want.” He was very attached to me and would always kiss my hands and head. Even though he was still young, his thinking was much more developed than his friends. I felt like he was my friend. Every day, I feel him slipping further and further away from me.”For details about the incident and the full testimoniesOn 4 October 2024, the UN Human Rights Office condemned the attack on Tulkarm the previous day (for details of the incident and full testimonies) and described it as “part of a highly concerning pattern of unlawful use of force by Israeli Security Forces during military-like operations in the West Bank.” The Office stated that using deadly force in this way is “frequently unnecessary, disproportionate, and therefore unlawful” under the laws applicable to law enforcement in an occupied territory. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights issued statements condemning the Israeli airstrikes in the northern West Bank over the course of the war in November 2023, August 2024 and January 2025.The increasing reliance on airstrikes in dense urban areas should be seen as part of a general trend towards the “Gazafication” of the West Bank. This trend includes a growing replication of other warfare methods and patterns the Israeli military developed and honed during its months-long offensive on Gaza in the West Bank as well. For instance, the military’s open-fire policy in the West Bank has become more permissive, often resulting in indiscriminate and disproportionate harm to Palestinian civilians. Another example is frequent military raids on Palestinian communities marked by widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure, including roads, electricity, water and sewage networks, and even the deliberate bombing of homes, all reminiscent of combat methods employed by the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip. In the West Bank, as in Gaza, a key, alarming outcome of using these methods is the mass displacement of civilians in areas where the military operates. According to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), since the start of Operation Iron Wall, announced by the military on 21 January 2025 and subsequently expanded from Jenin R.C. to the Tulkarm, Nur Shams, and al-Far’ah refugee camps, approximately 40,000 residents have been displaced.The information and testimony excerpts presented above are taken from B’Tselem’s investigation into four airstrikes in the northern West Bank between August 2024 and January 2025. The victims of these attacks were killed in a café, on the street or in their homes. The airstrike in Tulkarm on 3 October 2024 killed 18 people, including an entire family of four inside their home; two women were killed in their home in the strike on Tulkarm on 24 December 2024; three cousins, two of whom were children (ages 8 and 10), were killed while in a yard near their home in a strike on Tammun on 8 January 2025; four youths, two of them minors sleeping on their roof, were killed in a strike on al-Far’ah on 18 August 2024. Below is the full investigation.The incidents:An Israeli aircraft fired a missile that hit the parapet of a residential building in al-Far'ah RC, killing two minors who were sleeping on the roof and two youths on the street below An Israeli fighter jet bombed a café in a residential building in Tulkarm RC, killing 18 PalestiniansAn Israeli aircraft fired a missile that killed two women in their homes during a two-day raid on Tulkarm RC and Nur Shams RCAn Israeli aircraft fired a missile that killed two children and a young man near their home during a raid on Tammun An Israeli aircraft fired a missile that hit the parapet of a residential building in al-Far'ah Refugee Camp, killing two minors sleeping on the roof and two young men on the street belowOn 28 August 2024, Israel launched a military operation named Summer Camps, which consisted of several raids by Israeli forces on refugee camps and cities in the northern West Bank, each lasting several days. That night, around midnight, Israeli forces raided al-Far'ah RC, in Tubas District, from several directions. They entered with military bulldozers, which began destroying streets and infrastructure throughout the camp. Clashes erupted in several locations in the camp, including stone-throwing at Israeli forces and exchanges of fire between them and armed Palestinians.Due to the heavy summer heat, three brothers from the Na’jah family were sleeping on the roof of their three-story house that night. Other family members, who stayed inside, were following news of the raid on social media. A group of young men, some of them operatives in armed groups, was sitting outside the building. At around 2:00 A.M., an Israeli aircraft fired a missile that hit the parapet, killing two of the brothers who were sleeping on the roof – Murad Na’jah, 14, and Muhammad Na’jah, 17. Their brother Bashar, 27, was severely injured and their father, Mas’ud Na’jah, 52, who was in his mother’s home on the first floor, was also injured. Ten of the young men sitting outside the building were injured. Two of the operatives, Ibrahim Ghanimah, 22, and Ahmad Nabrisi, 23, were killed instantly.Camp residents took the men who were injured on the street away, through the alleyways. The Na’jah family managed to bring Bashar, who was injured by shrapnel in his legs, into the house and give first aid to him and to his father, Mas’ud, who was injured by shrapnel in his back. The family was afraid to bring the two brothers who were killed down off the roof because Israeli aircrafts were still circling over the house. An ambulance team arrived but was not allowed to enter the house, and soldiers were filmed holding them off. About three hours after the attack, the family managed to sneak out of the house and carry Mas’ud and Bashar through the alleyways to an ambulance. Paramedics were only able to access the roof around 9:30 A.M. after coordination with the Red Crescent. The military allowed them to remove the bodies only after the soldiers verified the deceased teens were not armed operatives.Following the incident, the IDF Spokesperson issued a statement completely ignoring the fact that two of the persons killed were minors sleeping on their roof at the time, as well as the injuries to two other family members, noting only that "an aircraft attacked from the air and eliminated four armed terrorists who were endangering the forces on the ground." In addition, B'Tselem's investigation found that the young men on the street outside the family's home, including Ghanimah and Nabrisi, who were killed by the missile, did not participate in the fire exchange and that residents did not know Israeli forces were nearby.B'Tselem field researcher 'Aref Daraghmeh collected testimonies from the family on 2 September 2024:Hazem Na’jah, 40, a father of three, described the killing of his teenage nephews:I live in a three-story building in the center of al-Far'ah RC, with my brothers and their families, as well as my elderly mother. My parents came to the camp as refugees after they were expelled from the village of al-Kafarin, which was near Haifa.The night of 28 August 2024 was a night of terror we’d never experienced. Around midnight, we heard the camp was being raided by large forces from all directions. I was at home with my wife and our kids, and we kept the kids away from the windows in case the Israeli forces fired. Around 2:00 A.M., we heard a loud explosion, in front of our building and also from its western side. I heard my sister-in-law Salam, who is married to my brother Ma'sud, shouting from the floor below that Ma’sud was injured. After that, we went up to the roof together and saw my brother's sons in a pool of blood. Two of them were dead. Their bodies were dismembered and one was without a head. Bashar was wounded and groaning in pain. A drone was still circling overhead, and we were afraid it would shoot at us. We couldn't stay long enough to remove the bodies, but we managed to get Bashar inside. Some windows in the building and water tanks on the roof were also damaged by the missile.I carried Bashar downstairs with some other family members, and we put him in my living room. My wife is a nurse and we have some bandages and disinfectants at home, so we started treating him. My brother was less severely injured. Everyone was terrified, and crying and screaming from the terrible sights.It took about three hours, until around 5:00 A.M., before we could evacuate Bashar and Ma’sud through the alleys. We checked there were no soldiers outside and carried them for more than 70 meters. From there, they were taken to the hospital by an ambulance, and we went home. We couldn't remove the bodies because it was still dangerous to go up to the roof. There were still a lot of soldiers in the camp.Around 9:00 A.M., soldiers came to our house along with Red Crescent paramedics. They went up to the roof and made sure the bodies were of minors, and only then let the paramedics take them away in an ambulance. The troops stayed in the camp for more than 30 hours. That whole time, we couldn't bury them. The occupation killed my nephews without any justification. We are simple people, just working and living our lives. There are no armed or wanted people among us. Someone needs to be held accountable for what they did.The mother of the two killed teens, Salam Na’jah, 45, a mother of five, said in her testimony:Around 2:00 A.M., I was in our apartment on the middle floor with my family. Like everyone else, I saw on social media that the camp was being raided. I sat down with my phone to listen to the news and catch up. My husband, Ma'sud, went down to the first floor to check on his mother, who has lived there alone since the death of her husband, peace be upon him.Suddenly, I heard a huge explosion. I went downstairs and found Ma’sud bleeding. He was so shocked, he couldn’t move. I rushed back upstairs and called for his brother Hamzah and other people from the family to help him. I wanted to go check on my sons Murad, Muhammad and Bashar. They were sleeping on the roof, as they usually do in summer because it's so hot inside. I quickly went up to the roof, and what I found shocked me. I became hysterical. I saw my sons on the floor in a pool of blood. Muhammad's body was in pieces, scattered on the roof. Bashar was injured and moving a little. I quickly went downstairs and called for help. Everyone came out cautiously, because they were afraid the army would shoot again. My brother-in-law Hazem and I managed to get Bashar down to Hazem's apartment on the third floor. His wife 'Abir, who is a nurse, treated Bashar and dressed his wounds. We left the bodies of Murad and Muhammad on the roof. We tried to focus on treating the wounded people. We were very frightened and kept away from the windows, which the bombing shattered.My husband and Bashar stayed at home, injured, for more than three hours. Then Hazem carried Mas’ud on his back and we managed to carry Bashar and get them both to an ambulance that took them to the Turkish Hospital in the city of Tubas. Meanwhile, dawn was breaking. We didn't see any soldiers around the house, but residents reported that the camp was under siege from every direction.I only found out afterwards that an ambulance tried to reach us but the soldiers blocked it and delayed the paramedics. My boys stayed like that on the roof for hours. I didn't dare go up there and see them again in that condition, and I was also afraid of the army.Only around 9:30 A.M., paramedics came to our house with soldiers. The soldiers started to search the house and then went up to the roof, and when they saw that it was minors, they let the paramedics take them. They were taken to ambulances on stretchers. The soldiers locked us in the house and didn't let us leave. The atmosphere in the camp was frightening. We heard gunshots and explosions. I checked on the phone that my husband and Bashar were okay.The army held the camp under siege for more than 30 hours. We were unable to bury my sons during that time. Their bodies were kept in a morgue refrigerator in the center of Tammun, because the refrigerators in the Turkish Hospital were full of people killed from the Jenin area.I'm living in a nightmare. I hope I can gather strength. My husband and sons were all hit at once. It happened so fast. We were sitting at home quietly, talking about day to day things – our plans for tomorrow, everyday things. We never imagined something like this would happen to us. There’s no safety here. The occupation and the soldiers robbed us of our joy in life. I saw my children dying before my eyes. All the other children in the family are still in shock from the sight of their dead and injured relatives.We want the occupation brought to justice, but we know that no one is ever punished for these acts. What did my children do wrong? All they were doing was sleeping, and the world exploded on them. The army killed my sons without any justification. They just wanted to live like all children, but the occupation killed them and left us only heartbreak, bitterness and pain. The Israeli air force bombed a café in a residential building in Tulkarm Refugee Camp, killing 18 PalestiniansOn 3 October 2024, around 10:00 P.M., an Israeli fighter jet bombed a three-story building in the heart of Tulkarm RC. Three missiles hit the building, went through the roof and exploded on the ground floor. The explosion destroyed the café and residential unit on the ground floor, killing everyone in them. All the units on the second and third floors were vacant except for the apartment of the Qassem family on the second floor, who were out at the time of the strike.The strike killed 18 Palestinians, including three minors. Six of the fatalities were not armed or operatives in the military wing of any organization. Four were the Abu Zahara family, killed in their ground-floor apartment adjacent to the café: Muhammad Abu Zahara, 30, Saja Khreiwish Abu Zahara, 28, and their two children, Sham, 8, and Karam, 5. The other two civilians were among the 14 men killed at the al-Fayyat café: the owner, ‘Omar Fayyat, 29, and a customer, Anwar Masimi, 34.According to the military, the targeted killing was aimed at Zahi ‘Ofi, 39, Gheith Radwan, 28, and another 10 unnamed armed operatives who were at the café.B’Tselem field researcher Abdulkarim Sadi collected the testimonies on 5 October 2024Saja’s brother, Muhammad Khreiwish, 21, who was on his way to visit his sister at her home, said in his testimony:On Thursday, 3 October 2024, around 10:00 P.M., I rode an electric bike to my sister Saja’s house in the center of the al-Hamam neighborhood. When I was 20 meters from her building, I heard a loud explosion from there. There was smoke and dust all around me, and I fell off the bike. For a few seconds, I couldn’t see anything in front of me.All I thought about in those moments was my sister, her husband and her little kids. I went to the back part of the building and was shocked to see the walls of their apartment destroyed. Suddenly, I saw my niece Sham. She was dead and her body was dismembered. I became hysterical. I picked her up quickly, wrapped her in some cloth and ran to the road and from there to the hospital, even though I knew she was dead.I don’t know what happened to me. I saw body parts scattered on the floor where my sister Saja’s apartment and the al-Fayyat family’s café were. When I got to the hospital, ambulances and residents started arriving with body parts and victims. The bodies of my sister Saja, her husband, Muhammad Abu Zahara, my nephew Karam and my brother Mahmoud were brought there. I’m still in shock from the terrible things I saw.‘Ali Khreiwish, 24, a neighborhood resident who was on the street at the time, said in his testimony:On Thursday, 3 October 2024, around 10:00 P.M., I was on the street with other guys in the al-Hamam neighborhood, in the center of Tulkarm RC. The camp was completely quiet and people were walking around. When there are no army raids, young people hang out until late at night.Suddenly, I heard an explosion. I was standing about 100 meters away from the building and café that were bombed. There was fire and a lot of smoke and dust around me. I started running to the building, along with a lot of other guys from the camp. We knew a lot of guys hang out at the café, and we tried to put out the fire and look for survivors.I was shocked when things became clearer. The apartment of Saja Khreiwish, a relative of mine, which is right next to the café, was reduced to rubble. There were torn limbs all around me, severed arms, legs and heads of guys. What hurt most was seeing the head of the little boy Karam severed from his body.Residents and paramedics began evacuating the victims together. The explosions from the three missiles fired by an Israeli plane tore apart most of the bodies. The body parts of the guys who were in the café and in the apartment next door were taken to the hospitals in cardboard boxes. During the evacuation, we found the body of a guy thrown by the explosion, that landed on the electrical and phone cables outside the café.People in the camp are used to hearing the drones, but we never imagined a fighter jet would bomb a building to kill one or two guys. The bombing killed 18 people in the building. Saja’s entire family, including her husband and young children, was wiped out.‘Alaa Qassem, 35, a father of three who lives on the second floor of the bombed building, said in his testimony:On Thursday, 3 October 2024, around 7:00 P.M., my wife took our three kids to visit her parents in the al-Moraba’ah neighborhood. I stayed home and we agreed I’d pick them up later. I took a nap and when I woke up, around 9:00 P.M., I went down to the café below the apartment and ordered a cup of coffee. About 13 young guys from the camp were sitting in the café. I knew some of them. I left the café and walked east toward my in-laws’ house.I passed by a group of neighbors and friends who were sitting in their doorways, and stopped to sit with them. One of my friends asked me why I hadn’t brought them coffee, and I said I’d go get him one. I was just about to get up and go back to the café when I heard an explosion 15 meters from where we were sitting. Everything was covered in dust and smoke and the blast threw me to the ground. I didn’t understand what happened. I was so terrified, I got up and ran away. I ran towards my in-laws’ house to find my wife and kids. When I reached them, I was shaking with fear. We stayed the night there. The next day, we went to check what happened to our apartment and found it was partially destroyed. Some of the furniture was destroyed and the glass windows were shattered. The Israeli air force fired a missile from an aircraft, killing two women in their homes, during a two-day raid on Tulkarm RC and Nur Shams RCAround midnight between Monday and Tuesday, 23 and 24 December 2024, Israeli military, Border Police and Shin Bet (ISA) forces raided the Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps. During the operation, the forces massively damaged infrastructure in Nur Shams, including streets, water pipes, homes and even a mosque. In both camps they exchanged fire with Palestinian operatives in armed organizations, who detonated IEDs against military vehicles. On Tuesday morning, Fathi ‘Obeid, 19, an Islamic Jihad military wing operative, was killed during a fire exchange with soldiers.During the raid, Israeli aircrafts fired missiles into the crowded Tulkarm RC. Around 1:00 P.M., a missile was fired at a street in the southern part of the camp, apparently targeting armed Palestinian operatives who were moving toward the center of the camp. A few minutes later, another missile hit a shack in the ‘Abdu family’s yard, shortly after Palestinian operatives passed by the house on their way to the center of the camp. Khawlah ‘Abdu, 50, was in the kitchen when missile shrapnel hit her in the head. She was killed instantly and her house sustained extensively damaged. Missile shrapnel also hit the home of the a-Sheikh ‘Ali family next door, where three women were standing by the window watching the events unfolding in the alleys. Two of the women were hit: Baraah ‘Attar, a 28-year-old mother of one, was seriously injured in the head; her sister-in-law Marah, 25, was lightly injured. The two were taken to Thabet Thabet Hospital, where Baraah was pronounced dead.That evening, around 6:30 P.M., another missile killed four military wing operatives in the center of the camp, including Muhayman Akhras, 16, an Islamic Jihad military wing operative. No exchanges of fire were taking place at the time. At around 8:00 P.M., Mahmoud A’mar, 19, a Hamas military wing operative, was killed by a missile fired from an Israeli aircraft during an exchange of fire with Israeli forces in nearby Nur Shams RC.Late Tuesday evening, armed Palestinians detonated an IED that hit a military vehicle carrying senior military commanders, lightly wounding one of them. The raid ended on Wednesday evening, 25 December 2024. The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported that nine people were injured in the airstrikes, including a 10-year-old boy.Responding to Haaretz, an IDF spokesperson said: “During a counter-terrorism operation in Tulkarm, an aircraft attacked armed men who were firing at our forces. The IDF is aware that two women were killed as a result of last night’s attack, and the matter is under investigation. The claim that IDF forces delayed the Red Crescent ambulances is not known. The IDF regrets the harm caused to uninvolved individuals.”B’Tselem field researcher Abdulkarim Sadi collected testimonies on 29 December 2024Baraah’s sister-in-law, Du’aa a-Sheikh ‘Ali, 31, said in her testimony:At around 1:00 P.M., I was on the second floor of the house with my sister Marah, our parents, my sister-in-law Baraah ‘Attar and her son. The night before, around midnight, Israeli troops raided the camp. Suddenly, we heard an explosion in the Moraba’at Hanun area. A few minutes after that, we heard young guys shouting and running away through alleys near our house. They ran towards the al-Hamam neighborhood, which is in the center of the camp, west of our house.Marah, Baraah and I went to the bedroom window and looked at the alleys. Suddenly, a missile fired from a drone hit the yard of our neighbors, the ‘Abdu family, six or seven meters away from us. The missile landed on a tin shack above the small yard of the house. We were very scared. Clouds of dust and smoke rose from the spot where the missile landed and fragments flew everywhere.Suddenly, my sister-in-law Baraah fell down. She stopped moving and couldn’t speak. I started shouting and tried to talk to her. She was bleeding heavily from the back of her head, and we were screaming and crying. My parents, who were in another room, rushed in. A few minutes later, paramedics arrived. They put Baraah on a gurney and took her and my sister Marah, who was lightly injured in the head by shrapnel, away on foot because the ambulance couldn’t get through. They were taken on foot through the alleys, about 200 meters south, to the Moraba’at Hanun area, and from there they were evacuated by ambulance to Thabet Thabet Hospital. The paramedics also evacuated our neighbor, Khawlah ‘Abdu, who was hit by missile shrapnel and died on the spot. At the hospital, the doctors pronounced Baraah dead. They said she was killed by shrapnel that hit her head.The missile that landed in the ‘Abdu family’s yard killed Baraah and our neighbor Khawlah ‘Abdu. It didn’t hit any of the armed guys who were running towards the al-Hamam neighborhood in the center of the camp.Baraah’s sister-in-law, Marah a-Sheikh ‘Ali, 25, said in her testimony:Around 1:00 P.M. we heard a huge explosion. A missile fired from a drone landed in the Moraba’at Hanun area, about 200 meters from our house. I saw clouds of dust and smoke all around.After two or three minutes, we heard the voices of guys running away towards the al-Hamam neighborhood through the alleys near our house. Du’aa, Baraah and I went over to the window that faces west and overlooks the alleys. Suddenly, a missile fell in the ‘Abdu family’s yard, about seven meters from our house. It exploded and there was smoke and dust everywhere. My face and eyes were burning and I couldn’t see anything. I backed into the room, and then I heard my sister screaming and trying to talk to Baraah, and I understood she’d been hit by missile shrapnel.After I washed my face with water and calmed down a bit, I went back to the room we were standing in. I saw Baraah lying injured on the floor, bleeding from her head. My parents and my sister Du’aa were standing around her. At first I didn’t feel I’d been hit, until I realized my head was bleeding, too.Paramedics came to our apartment and took Baraah and me to the Moraba’at Hanun area. There, we were put in ambulances that took us to Thabet Thabet Hospital. I was shocked when I saw our neighbor Khawlah ‘Abdu there, dead. I understood she was hit by shrapnel from the same missile. At the hospital, the doctors also pronounced Baraah dead. They examined me and took X-rays, and found a small fragment lodged in my head. The doctors decided not to remove it and asked me to come back to the hospital for a check-up in the coming days.Khawlah’s aunt, Halimah ‘Abdu, 67, said in her testimony:Around 1:00 P.M., I was alone in my room. My niece Khawlah was in her apartment, right next to mine. Suddenly, I heard young men running and talking to each other. It sounded like they were running from soldiers, who raided the camp in the middle of the night before and stayed until Wednesday evening.After the guys passed, I heard a loud explosion in the shared yard between my house and Khawlah’s. The blast made a hole in the wall of my room. Debris spread everywhere and there was a lot of noise and dust. I was really scared. Luckily, I was sitting on my bed in the corner of the room at the time of the blast.A few moments later, when the dust settled a bit, I left the room. I was still very shaken. I saw fragments had gone through the tin roof of the shack in the yard, and bits of the missile were scattered in the yard. I heard screams coming from the neighbors’ house – thea-Sheikh ‘Ali family. I didn’t know Baraah ‘Attar had been seriously injured by shrapnel from the missile.I went into Khawlah’s house and found her lying on the floor, bleeding heavily from her head. I realized she was dead. The tap was running and the stove was on. I think she’d just made herself some food in the kitchen, which is next to the yard.I started screaming for the neighbors and the paramedics to come. Paramedics from the neighborhood arrived and carried Khawlah out. At the same time, I saw other paramedics carrying Baraah ‘Attar, who was wounded in the head by shrapnel.After they were taken away, I found out the doctors at Thabet Thabet Hospital had pronounced my niece Khawlah and my neighbor Baraah dead. There were no wanted people in our house, and I don’t know why the missile was fired into the yard. The Israeli air force fired a missile from an aircraft, killing two children and a young man near their home during a raid on the village of TammunOn Wednesday, 8 January 2025, around 6:00 A.M., Israeli forces raided the city of Tubas, the town of Tammun and the village of al-’Aqabah in the northern Jordan Valley. In al-’Aqabah, the forces arrested two young men in their home. In Tubas, they surrounded a house and, after apparently failing to arrest the person they were looking for, arrested his brother in order to pressure him to turn himself in.During the raid on Tammun, clashes developed between the forces and Palestinian armed operatives in the southern and eastern areas of the town. Around 10:00 A.M., an Israeli aircraft fired a missile that killed three cousins, two of them children, by their home: Adam Bsharat, 23, Hamzah Bsharat, 10, and Rida Bsharat, 8. About 10 minutes after the airstrike, Israeli forces arrived and forced relatives of the deceased away from the spot and into a house. They then took blankets from the house, wrapped the three bodies in them and took them away. The bodies were returned to the family later that day via the Palestinian DCO.An investigation released by the military about three weeks later stated that the aircraft identified the young man and two children killed as individuals who planted IEDs. The military claimed this identification was based on intelligence information, but ultimately no IEDs were found at the scene. The investigation stated that “the identification process during the incident made it difficult to determine that they were minors.” B’Tselem field researcher Salma a-Deb’i collected testimonies on 29 January 2025Adam Bsharat’s mother, ‘Abla Bsharat, 49, a mother of six, said in her testimony:On 8 January 2025, I woke up around 5:30 A.M. I got my son Sa’id, 10, ready to leave the house, and he got on the bus to school at 6:45 A.M. Ubay, 16, who is in the 11th grade, didn’t go to school that day because classes were canceled due to the military presence in the area. I turned off Ubay’s phone and closed the windows so he could continue sleeping. I left around 9:00 A.M. to visit my sister ‘Abir. I invited my son Adam, 23, to have coffee with us after he loaded our electricity card [a prepaid card used to pay the electrical company].I sat at my sister’s. When she served coffee, I told her Adam would be coming and she said we’d make another coffee when he came. Just then, we heard a huge blast that shook the house. We rushed outside to see what happened. I saw my sister-in-law Iman, 39, screaming for help and holding her son Hamzah, 10, who was covered in blood. I saw my son Ubay and my daughter Israa, 27, who had woken up and come out after hearing the explosion. I also saw a young man I didn’t recognize lying on the ground.When I got closer, I saw it was my son Adam. He was gurgling and his head was lolling. I knew he was drawing his last breaths. I saw my sister-in-law Fidaa, 41, come and shout for an ambulance to help her son, Rida, 8. Suddenly, about 20 soldiers showed up, pointed their guns at me and forced me to back away from Adam. Ubay, Israa and I backed away about 20 meters and stood near my doorway. The soldiers looked surprised when they saw the dead children and Adam. They went into several home in the neighborhood, including Fidaa’s house, took out blankets and covered the three bodies with them.The soldiers ordered us to get inside. I was shaking and in such a state of shock that I didn’t even cry. Ubay tried calling an ambulance. I was worried about him. All I wanted was to protect him so nothing would happen to him. I saw that he was in shock too. His face was yellow and he was gritting his teeth.About 40 minutes after the bombing, the soldiers left and took the three bodies with them. Later, I found out they were transferred on stretchers and handed over to the Palestinian DCO at the Taysir junction. After that, all our neighbors, relatives and friends came to my house. I didn’t know how they’d heard about what happened. Meanwhile, the army left the village.I couldn’t process what happened. I just prayed to wake up and find it was all a nightmare, but it was real. I lost my son Adam, my fourth son. He worked with his father in the Jordan Valley. He would usually be away from home for a week and then come back. I’m used to seeing him come back, but now he’s gone and won’t come back. They killed him in front of our house, before my very eyes. We’re all trying to hide our sadness from each other at home, but the house is silent. No one is talking. The talking and smiles have disappeared, and all I have left is the memories of Adam.Adam came back from the Umrah [pilgrimage to Mecca] just two days before he was killed. He wasn’t planning on going back to work until next week, so he could rest and spend time with us. He said he’d missed us very much.Not long ago, my husband started building a new house for us and for the children in a neighborhood in the village. Before Adam was killed, I was very excited about moving into it, but now I want to stay in this house. Every day, I sit next to the bloodstains he left behind, stare at the spot he was killed, and remember how I saw him bleeding on the ground next to his cousins. I don’t want anything from this life anymore. I don’t want anything except the memory of Adam.Rida Bsharat’s mother, Fidaa Bsharat, 41, a mother of five, said in her testimony:On 8 January 2025, I got up around 6:00 A.M. and made breakfast. I woke the children so they could get ready for school. Then Iman told me school was out because of the army raid.At about 8:30 A.M., I went with my eight-year-old son, Rida, to visit my sister-in-law Iman. Rida and Iman’s 10-year-old son Hamzah, played together for a while, and then went out to play in a small yard between the houses where they often play. My sister-in-law and I chatted in the meantime. We could hear the hum of a drone in the background. We’re used to that sound, especially during army raids.Around 9:30 A.M., I left Iman’s house and went home. On the way, I saw Rida and Hamzah playing. Adam was sitting next to them, looking at his phone. The moment I went into the house, I heard a terrifying explosion that shook the entire area. I immediately went back outside and saw my sister-in-law Iman and my sister-in-law ‘Abla, Adam’s mother, standing next to the children, who were lying on the ground covered in blood. I went over and picked up my son. He was bleeding from his head and neck, and he was groaning. I shouted for an ambulance, and suddenly soldiers showed up. One of them said in Arabic that they would give him first aid. The soldiers made ‘Abla and her kids, Ubay and Israa, who came after being woken up by the explosion, back away.I kept on holding my son, but I knew he was dead. Soon after, the soldiers brought blankets from ‘Abla’s house and covered the three bodies. They didn’t try to give them first aid or even check them. It was clear they were dead. They took them away on stretchers. It was about 10:30 A.M. After that, the army left the area. In the afternoon, the three bodies were handed over via the Palestinian DCO at the Taysir checkpoint. We held their funeral after evening prayers, and they were buried in the village cemetery.Rida was our only son. He was born after four daughters. He was the prince of his class and our spoiled boy. He always wanted us to visit Jerusalem, but we couldn’t because of the situation. He used to say to me: “I’ll buy a car and take you to Jerusalem and buy you anything you want.” He was very attached to me and would always kiss my hands and head. Even though he was still young, his thinking was much more developed than his friends. I felt like he was my friend. Every day, I feel him slipping further and further away from me. God, it’s so hard, so unbearable and scary to think he’s not coming back. They took him from me, from his sisters, from his home. He didn’t do anything. He died only because one of the soldiers made a mistake, or maybe wanted to kill a Palestinian, whether he was a senior wanted person or just an armed operative. I could have been killed there, too. I passed by them a few seconds before the bombing.
10 March 2025
