Two children were among three Palestinians from the same extended family killed in an Israeli drone strike in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, Palestinian officials said.
The governor of Tubas said the strike in the town of Tammun killed Adam Besharat, 23, and his cousins Hamza Besharat, 10, and Reda Besharat, eight.
The Israeli military initially said it had “struck a terrorist cell” in Tammun. It was later said that the incident was “under review” due to “various reports regarding the outcomes of the strike.”
The Foreign Ministry of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank condemned the strike as a “heinous crime.”
It called the incident a “clear display of the violations committed by the Israeli government against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip,” where Israel is waging a war, and a “blatant violation of international law.”
The attack that killed Adam, Hamza and Reda Besharat took place as Israeli forces raided several homes in Tammun, the city’s mayor told the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.
Tubas Governor Ahmed Asaad and Adam’s mother, Abla Besharat, said the cousins were sitting in front of a house when they were targeted by a drone.
“I heard a bang and found my son here,” Ms Besharat told Reuters as she gestured to a blood-stained wall and pavement. “He breathed his last.”
“She [Israeli troops] wouldn’t let me get close to him. A large crew arrived, forced us inside and confiscated our phones. They wouldn’t let me see him. They went in, got blankets from the house, wrapped them up and took them away.”
She said Reda also died on the spot, but Hamza was seriously injured and still alive when troops took him away.
“They wouldn’t let the ambulance come in. His mother kept screaming, but she didn’t care.’
Mr Asaad told the AFP news agency that Israeli forces took the cousins away shortly after the attack. Their bodies were later returned to Palestinian authorities for burial rites.
Photos and videos posted online Wednesday evening showed mourners preparing the boys’ bodies for burial and then carrying them through busy streets.
The strike in Tammun was the second in two days.
On Tuesday, the Israeli army said it had killed two members of an “armed terrorist cell” that fired on troops carrying out a raid on the village. The Palestinian Health Ministry said two men, aged 18 and 24, were killed.
The day before, three Israelis were killed in a shooting attack on a bus and two cars in the village of al-Funduq, 25 kilometers southwest of Tammun.
The military wings of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Fatah-linked al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed to be behind the attack on Wednesday evening.
There has been a spike in violence in the West Bank since Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 and the subsequent war in Gaza.
More than 800 Palestinians have been killed, the UN says, as Israeli forces have stepped up their almost daily search and arrest raids.
Israel says it is trying to halt Palestinian attacks on the West Bank and Israel, which the UN says have killed at least 44 Israelis.
