The Palestinian children who survived as Israeli soldiers riddled their car with bullets: After killing my family, they laughed at me'

"When they stopped shooting, I opened the door and started screaming, Please, someone help me! Everyone in the car is dead, and my brother Mustafa has fainted!' Khaled recalls. The soldiers, he adds, dragged him out of the vehicle by his hair before beating and mocking him. When he asked to go urinate, they opened the car doors wide and forced him through so he could see the bodies of his parents and siblings again."

"Ali, the father, worked illegally in construction inside Israel, spending long stretches away from home because secretly crossing the separation barrier meant risking his life, explains his father and the children's grandfather, Khaled Bani Odeh, who has just suddenly lost a son, a daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren."

"Until then, it had been a happy night. Even though Ramadan was about to end, it was only their first iftar – the meal that breaks the fast during the holy Muslim month – with the whole family. They had gone to Nablus, the largest city in the area, to follow a tradition: buying new clothes for Eid al-Fitr, the festival that marks the end of Ramadan."

Khaled Bani Odeh, 11, and his brother Mustafa, 8, survived a shooting incident in the occupied West Bank in which Israeli soldiers fired on their family's car as they returned home to Tammun after shopping for Eid al-Fitr celebrations. Their parents Ali and Waad, and younger brothers Mohammed and Othman were killed in the attack. The brothers were hospitalized with minor injuries and remain traumatized. Khaled recounts that soldiers dragged him from the vehicle by his hair, beat him, and forced him to view the bodies of his deceased family members. The family had been returning from Nablus where they purchased new clothes for the Eid holiday, following a cherished Ramadan tradition.

Read at english.elpais.com