IDF says it ‘does not act with intention of harming innocents’ after Palestinian family shot dead

IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin says the military “does not act with the intention of harming innocent civilians,” after a Palestinian couple and two of their young children were killed when Israeli security forces opened fire on their car in the northern West Bank on Saturday.

Both soldiers and police officers took part in the operation during which the shooting occurred.

Israel Police has claimed that the car sped toward its forces during a joint counter-terrorism operation in the area with the IDF, and that, feeling threatened, they opened fire.

“We operate according to the IDF’s system of values,” Defrin says in response to a question at a press conference. “Any harm to innocent people, certainly children and women, is stomach-turning. The IDF does not act with the intention of harming innocent civilians.”

Defrin says the military is investigating the incident, as is the Department of Internal Police Investigations, a Justice Ministry unit responsible for investigating police officers.