Israeli forces reportedly kill Palestinian family of four in West Bank

Israeli forces killed a Palestinian father, mother, and two of their children as they drove in West Bank on Sunday (15 March), Palestinian health authorities said, and the Israeli military said the incident was under review.

The Israeli military said in a statement that forces had operated in the village of Tammun to arrest Palestinians wanted for involvement in "terrorism" activity against security forces.

"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 military said. The circumstances of the incident were under review, it said.

Speaking to Reuters at the hospital, Khaled, 12, one of the two surviving boys, said he heard his mother crying and his father praying, but heard no voice of any of his other brothers before silence prevailed after shots sprayed the car.

"We came under direct fire, we didn't know the source. Everyone in the car was martyred, except my brother Mustafa and me," the boy said.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said one Palestinian was also killed in an attack by Israeli settlers overnight.

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Settlers have killed at least five Palestinians in West Bank since the Iran war began on 28 February, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

In Gaza, health officials said an Israeli airstrike had killed three people on Sunday- a man, his pregnant wife, and their son- in the western area of Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip. 

There was no immediate Israeli response to that report.

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