March 16, 2026 | 06:23 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Palestinian Red Crescent on Sunday said its teams recovered the bodies of two adults and two children from a car that Israeli soldiers shot at in the northern West Bank town of Tammun.
Palestinian officials said the incident was not "isolated" but part of what it described as a broader and systematic pattern of Israeli attacks within the occupied West Bank.
In Gaza, also on Sunday, a pregnant woman, her son and partner were killed along with another boy in a reported Israeli airstrike.
What we know about West Bank killings
The Israeli military and police said in a joint statement that security forces opened fire during an operation after perceiving the vehicle as "an immediate threat."
Authorities said the car accelerated toward the forces, prompting the gunfire that killed the four people inside the vehicle. The incident is under investigation.
The Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah said the victims were a 37-year-old man, a 35-year-old woman, and their sons, aged 5 and 7. The bodies were taken to the Turkish hospital in the town of Tubas.
The Palestinian news agency Wafa said two other children in the vehicle, aged 8 and 11, were injured by shrapnel. Images showed dozens of relatives gathering in Tammun to mourn the victims.
Child survivor says Israeli soldiers beat him
Israel's military and police said that, before the forces opened fire on the family, they were pursuing people whom they accused of "terrorist activity."
One of the surviving children told reporters that the Israeli soldiers "pulled me out and started jumping on my back. Then they took me to a corner and asked me what happened and who was with me in the car."
"I told them it was my father and mother. They said I was lying and started beating me," he added. He said the soldiers had shouted "we killed dogs" before they started beating him.
According to Palestinian authorities and the United Nations, deadly attacks in the West Bank have increased in recent days, many attributed to Israeli settlers.
Israel has illegally occupied the West Bank since 1967. Attacks by settlers and Israeli security forces on Palestinians have escalated sharply since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and the subsequent war in Gaza.
Two parents, two boys killed in Gaza strike
The Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al Balah said the strike in Gaza hit the Sawarha area, west of the Nuseirat refugee camp, which is outside of the zone controlled by Israeli forces under the current ceasefire agreement.
Three of the victims were members of the same family: a man and woman in their 30s and their 10-year-old son. Hospital officials said the woman was pregnant at the time of her death.
The fourth fatality was a 15-year-old boy who was their neighbor.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that the strike hit an area with a high concentration of civilians. There was no immediate response from Israel to the report.
Despite a ceasefire that began in October, Israel has continued occasional airstrikes and drone attacks in western parts of Gaza outside the Israeli military perimeter.
According to Palestinian figures, about 660 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,700 wounded during the ceasefire period in shootings or airstrikes.
Overall, Palestinian authorities say more than 72,200 people in Gaza have been killed and about 171,800 injured in Israeli attacks since Israel launched its offensive following the October 7, 2023, assault by Hamas-led militants on Israeli territory. Nearly 1,200 people were killed in that attack.
Israeli attacks on Gaza decreased at the beginning of the war against Iran that started at the end of February, but have since increased again.
Read: Israel Seeks to Deploy Gaza Stabilization Force in May, Media Reports
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