Israel’s barbarism to Palestinians

JVL Introduction

Khaled Bani Odeh is 11 years old. On 15th March, his family, like many others. had been out late in the vibrant town of Nablus for a post Iftar outing (something I have also done with friends during Ramadan).  Instead of arriving home after a short drive, undercover Israeli Border forces shot rounds into the vehicle killing his parents and two of his brothers and injuring his eight year old brother Mustafa. After the killings,  the soldiers beat Khaled and then told him not to tell the paramedic that this had happened.

This particular tale of horror was severe enough to get mentioned in some western legacy media, eg  here  and ‘here on the BBC website. This is part of what children and adults in the West Bank – as in Gaza – endure on a far too frequent basis. “According to OCHA, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces and settlers in the occupied West Bank reached 1071 since 7 October 2023, including 233 children.” (taken from Amnesty’s statement on this killing.)

We can only begin to imagine the psychological impact this will have on the two surviving boys. Perhaps this time there will be some action taken against the perpetrators of this murder but past experience would say this is unlikely.

Meanwhile, another unbearable situation that, nonetheless has had to be borne was Israeli forces ‘torturing Gaza toddler’ to force ‘confession’ from father”. 

LL

This article was originally published by Ha'aretz on Fri 20 Mar 2026. Read the original here.